The Science Museum of Minnesota recently opened up an exhibit titled Mental Health: Mind Matters. The exhibit is meant to allow visitors to get a taste of what it's like to live with a mental illness.

43.6 million adults suffer from a mental illness in the United States. But unfortunately, it is still largely misunderstood. Dr. Thomas Joseph, Chief Medical Officer at PrairieCare, says “If you're not affected you'll know someone who is affected. Someone in your family, someone in school, someone at work."

Some examples of what you can experience while visiting the exhibit include a room where you are asked to have a conversation with someone while other voices are played over the speakers. You can witness what each person in a family is experiencing in a situation where the father suffers from depression. There is also a full body "game" where you are in a dark forest and you have to confront scary creatures and try to "survive the night."

This is intense stuff but it's also incredibly important for people to understand mental illness and mental health. "Like physical illness, mental illness is not a 'choice' or a personal flaw but a medical condition that requires care."

I plan to check this exhibit out and, if you have the chance to travel up to the Twin Cities, I would encourage you to check it out too!

The exhibit will be open until January 2019.

 

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