Mental health has long been shrouded in stigma and misunderstanding. Thankfully, after a long struggle, it is now a topic that people are starting to speak more openly about, meaning that people can finally start to deal properly with the illnesses that affect one in five American adults in any given year. Like any kind of health condition, mental illness has an impact on our ability to do our favourite things, and that includes travel. You sometimes hear travel being spoken about as some kind of cure-all for anyone dealing with things like anxiety or depression – all they need is to ‘take a break from it all’, and after a holiday they will be just fine again. But it is that kind of casual, almost dismissive attitude to mental health that all of us should be moving past. No doubt travel can be good for mental well-being – if done right. You also have to take into consideration that travel can, at times, be stressful, it takes you out of your normal routines and away from your support network.
