In fast-paced lives, we often tend to neglect ourselves and focus more on our lives that are swiftly going by, day after day, for months and even years too. Without knowing the magnitude and how it might affect our professional and personal lives, it is often ignored. However, it is essentially crucial to tackle it at the forefront and understand where it is affecting the most and minimize its requisition at the cost of our lives.
According to the data collected in 2020 alone by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, there were 1.2 million attempted suicides and roughly 46,000 completed suicides. In other words, there was one death every 11 minutes.
Among ages 10-19, suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death and the 2nd leading cause of death for ages 20-34. Almost ninety percent of those who commit suicide suffer from untreated depression and let their symptoms grow until they are unbearable, causing a feeling of hopelessness, loneliness, and numbness.
Observing the data above, it is pretty evident how ignorance of mental health and overall health can affect the lives of the youth. The Youth who can lead the nation and be the torchbearers for the generations to come.
Many have suffered alone from the wrath of depression and come out of the spiral and shine like never before in their life. That’s what the miracle of Oral Roberts University does who get into its empowering spiritual atmosphere and to everyone who is surrounded by or either enrolled in the university.
Here goes the journey of Victoriya Ruffin, a Mental Health Advocate and Student at Oral Roberts University. One who is a survivor of depression and its dark spiral.
However, upon enrolling into ORU, something changed her consciousness that enabled her outlook on life.
Sideby, the presence of the aid of Mirror Intelligence (MQ) helped her throughout her journey and, in turn, inspired her to be a Mental Health Advocate while being a student at ORU.
Let’s dive in and know more about it!
Victoriya’s Journey
While diving into her personal journey, she says, “For the first 16 years of my life, I was known for my joy, my light-heartedness, my carefree sense of humor and bold personality, but for over a year, this was little more than a carefully maintained facade.”
She states her numbness and being out of the blues mentioning, “There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t dread waking up in the morning, ‘playfully’ telling my mom that I wanted to drop out of school, and crying, either internally or externally before getting out of the car in my high school’s parking lot.”
The signs were pretty evident right there. The things she once loved, like fashion and styling or spending time with family and friends, she no longer cared about, and still, no one would ever know about what was happening inside her all this while; little did she know either.
Over a period, the tears ran dry. The series of constant jokes complemented by maintained grades, extracurriculars, and a wide smile was a bulletproof guard over it all, and no one questioned a thing.
Victoriya says, “I never wanted those around me to question the character or authenticity of the God I had always described as full of love and goodness. I carried the weight of being ‘a light’ and held onto it as if my life depended on it, which in a sense, it did. I felt empty, but I poured out my heart as an attempt to numb the pain, being an encourager, a listening ear, and a friend to all.”
With everything going smoothly during this season in her life, everything about her felt like a mistake or a flaw, and mirrors became her enemy. Looking at the signs, she states, “If only I could have looked in the mirror and seen myself for who I really was rather than the lies that depression had made me believe about myself. My mind was playing tricks on me, and I needed a fresh view of the true beauty within me.”
Everyone has a story, and we’re all in different stages of our own inner-healing process, just beginning or healing and renewed.
Unexpected Transition in ORU
After enrolling in Oral Roberts University (ORU) forever changed her life. The way ORU believes in not only an education for the whole being but also the healing of the whole person – the body, mind and spirit.
Witnessing the environment of ORU brought a drastic change in her and her personality altogether. Stating the same, she mentions, “It is a one-of-a-kind environment that allowed me to have a deeper understanding of how I was truly created and to see myself outside of just my own feelings or perception.”
Expressing mere gratitude, she thanks the ORU stating, “I found such healing, and my journey felt fresh and new again. Little did I know that while at ORU, there was a four-year initiative testing technology to solve and hopefully one day eradicate depression and anxiety.”
The technology at ORU included a concept that allowed individuals to see and hear the truth about who they were created to be. This new concept took IQ, EQ, and SQ (Spiritual Intelligence) to a new level and incorporated a concept known as MQ (Mirrored Intelligence).
This technology was developed with the world’s leading technologists, Michael Mathews and Jesupelumi Wickliffe from Oral Roberts University, alongside the world-renowned Psychiatrist Dr. Jason Beaman and Luke Lawson from Oklahoma State Medical College.
The combined work of these four individuals brought a 10,000-year-old glass mirror with the new capabilities of Artificial Intelligence. Above is an image that depicts the breakthrough.
The Innovation of Mirrored Intelligence (MQ)
The MQ Mirror is truly a breakthrough technology for those suffering from depression or anxiety at any stage.
When designed, the MQ Mirror was intended to be used as an early intervention tool, but after exploring the endless capabilities of the mirror, it is clear that the mirror is relevant and effective before, during, and after the restoration process.
The ground-breaking innovation of this mirror!
The Mirror aims to put the power back into our hands. A lot of the time, when struggling with mental health, you lose your sense of identity, feeling helpless and without control, but the MQ Mirror reminds you who you are, the value that you hold, and that you don’t have to struggle alone because healing begins within. The mind controls the body.
According to Dr. Herbert Benson, the former director of the Benson-Henry Institute of Mind-Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, he states, “the mind and body communicate constantly; what the mind thinks, perceives, and experiences are sent from our brain to the rest of the body” and a restored sense of power, motivation, hope, identity, clarity, connection, and safety are the ingredients for full healing and restoration, inside out.
The unique feature of this mirror is that “The mirror holds you accountable until you’re ready to hold yourself accountable.”
While elaborating on her journey, Victoriya opens by saying, “I’ve been there before. I know how broken it feels. I know how it feels to want to get better, but I had no idea where to start. I also know what healing feels like. I know what training my mind to remain peaceful feels like. I know what it feels like to unlearn bad habits.”
After months of working with the MQ Mirror and exploring its innovative features, she searched for ways to further improve the current technology, as well as speaking with mental health professionals and experienced advocates.
With a heave of relief, she says, “I now more than ever, know-how valuable encouragement and self-reflection are in the healing and restoring process. When it comes to AI technology, the possibilities are endless and because the MQ Mirror is for you, it can be programmed to do whatever you want and need.”
The advanced technology the MQ Mirror is built with allows the person using it to take national depression and anxiety tests in private, removing the paranoia of negative stigmas surrounding poor mental health and judgment, giving the person the ability to take the first step towards their freedom on their own terms and conditions.
The mirror is not only intelligent but quite intuitive. It has an in-built ability to measure small changes in posture, eye movement, and other subtle differences in the person’s behavior that would typically go unnoticed or unrecognized, even by those close to people, learning who we are in order to provide the most accurate and relevant tools and support to each user individually.
The MQ mirror allows you to not just see yourself, but only encourages you to see yourself from unbiased eyes, from a new perspective. As mentioned earlier, the mirror helps to keep you accountable.
The MQ-Mirror has been through numerous clinical studies with incredible results documented and written in the Journal of Medical Systems with Dr. Jason Beaman, Luke Lawson, and Michael L. Mathews.
This testing has been done leveraging the self-depression and self-anxiety tests. This simple yet revolutionary undertaking has the capability of helping millions of individuals. This clinical and documented test has caused the CEO and President of Sunshine Care Partners, Rusty McMurray to implement Mirror technology in the nation’s first brick-and-mortar virtual health-wellness-medical clinic in Glenpool, Oklahoma.
The Clinic allows patients access to personal coaching, counseling, diet/exercise and medical services through a patient-driven smartphone/web app plus a brick-and-mortar clinic. With access to private and personalized MQ technology, it encourages patients to reclaim their identity and authority by taking the first step towards their freedom, confronting their pain from the comfort and all this at the convenience of their own home, with access given to tools to maintain momentum once a diagnosis is found.
Diving into Mental Health
When our mental wellness is low, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by even the everyday happenings in life. As the designers are aware of this, the mirror has features that allow the person using it to keep tabs on their workflow, as well as their responsibilities and health reminders.
The MQ technology understands that healing is not linear but that it is a process. The mirror encourages us to live in the present and reminds us to utilize self-reflection and gratitude as we rebuild in the process. The mirror doesn’t just aim to provide identification of your struggles but to bring restoration along the process.
Even with the widespread awareness campaigns and increased mental health and wellness initiatives in schools and across media platforms, the fear of judgment and acknowledgment continues to be a hindrance to those suffering in silence.
Psychiatrist Dr. Beaman, who also serves as Chair of the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Science, found that one major issue in his office is that patients simply do not show up to their appointments, afraid of being judged and condemned.
Mental health cannot be ignored, and suicide rates are not dropping. Media has glamorized the ability to hide our emotions, calling our tendency to hide behind a plastered smile a strength and encouraging the phrase, “never let them see you sweat,” as though it were a battle cry, when in reality, this coping mechanism might be the most dangerous of them all.
Poor mental health has become so normalized that very real and crucial signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression are brushed under the rug and overlooked. When we’re constantly hearing tragic stories of suicides by those who seemed happy, successful, and loved, it’s a cynical reminder of the deception behind, sometimes even the brightest smile.
It’s not enough for mental health assistance and resources to be provided only to those who have mustered up the courage to reach out, and to take the next steps.
What about those who are still hiding behind a smile, behind social media highlights, burying themselves in their work or their responsibilities, or their concern for others?
The most deeply afflicted could be the cheery barista who always makes sure to give you extra whipped cream or your friendly neighbor who gives you a card for every holiday.
It could be your sweet friend who sends you words of encouragement every morning or your considerate significant other who loves you so deeply and affectionately.
We Never Know
Although the MQ Mirror is for the silent troopers, the popular loners, for the ones who politely say “I’m doing good” just to keep the atmosphere light, for those who were taught that tears were a sign of weakness.
“This mirror and technology is for all of us.”
Mental illness cannot and will not take away our freedom, our joy, our peace, our purpose, or our identity. Almost every home has some form of mirror inside.
What if that mirror could be smart and assist all of us?
Thanks to the pioneering work of Michael Mathews, Jesupelumi Wickliffe, Jason Beaman, Luke Lawson, and Rusty McMurray.
The MQ Mirror is exactly– a Smart Mirror capable of helping everyone.
