Rev Fr C Joseph
Counsellor, St Joseph’s College (Autonomous) Jakhama
Mental health is very important for living a stable and healthy life. It comprises of emotional, social, and psychological well-being of a person. As per the statistics, one in five people in the world struggles through mental health issues. It impacts the way we think, feel, and behave every day. Our mental health also impacts our decision-making procedure, how we deal with stress and how we connect with others in our lives. Let us see more about the significance of mental health. Mental health is an important part of the life of a person. It impacts our behaviours, emotions, and thoughts. A healthy mental state promotes effectiveness, and productivity in activities that includes work, academics, and inter-personal relationships. A person who has sound mind is able to adapt itself to the changes in the life. His mind has the capability to withstand stress and does not go off the balance. His mental strength keeps him solid and unshaken amidst adversities and challenges in life. Mental health also plays a critical role in maintaining the health of your relationships. Good mental health equips people with the ability to effectively deal with stress, and maintain stability in relationships. Students with healthy mind are able to efficiently cope up with academic stress. Their mind is strong and capable enough to face the fierce competition and succeed in realizing their goals.
Mental illness: It is a kind of illness that happens in the brain. It leads to disturbances in your thinking, energy, emotion or behaviour. It makes it very tough to withstand with the demands of life. It is important for the doctor to figure out the cause of the illness. It could be due to genetics, changes in the brain chemistry, alterations in brain structure, dealing with trauma and/or cardiac ailment. In a study performed on a set of people, it was found that mental illnesses impact nineteen percentage of the total adult population. Around forty-six percentages of teenagers are affected by it. This problem impacts around thirteen percentages of children too. People with issues can be even close to you in the form of your colleague, neighbour, student, teacher etc. There is a lot of stigma attached to mental health illness, due to which very few people approach a doctor to deal with their issue. Unresolved mental illness contributes to poor physical health, higher medical expenditure, inferior performance at workplace, and school, less job opportunities, and increased chances of suicide.
Mental Disorders: Poor mental health can lead to two major types of disorders that impact the day to day functioning of the body. Some of these disorders are: Anxiety Disorders-Over eighteen percentages of adults suffer from anxiety disorder. It is observed in the form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, widespread anxiety disorder and specific type of fears. Mood Disorders-This type of condition is characterized in the form of general depression, bipolar depression, and inability to maintain normal mood. This condition impacts around ten percentages of adults each year.
Negative stigma attached to mental health illnesses is higher than other ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. People have lack of information about it and are reluctant to reach out for a medical treatment. Both these factors collectively cause overwhelming hindrances for people who are struggling with this condition. If any of your loved one is suffering from mental health disorder, then ensure that they get the same opportunities, and rights like other people. To improve your mental health, surround yourself with people who accept your situation and treat you for who you are. This will help you to successfully cope with the illness. Enhance your knowledge about mental health to get the necessary support to deal with the issue. Maintain a regular exercise routine. Focus on eating healthy and well-balanced diet Connect with other people, family and friends to get emotional support. Always be grateful in life. Pursue a hobby or any creative task that you love to do. Get proper sleep.
Mental Health is a Universal human right: Mental health is a basic human right for all people. Everyone, whoever and wherever they are, has a right to the highest attainable standard of mental health. This includes the right to be protected from mental health risks, the right to available, accessible, acceptable, and good quality care, and the right to liberty, independence and inclusion in the community. Good mental health is vital to our overall health and well-being. Yet one in eight people globally are living with mental health conditions, which can impact their physical health, their well-being, how they connect with others, and their livelihoods. Mental health conditions are also affecting an increasing number of adolescents and young people. Having a mental health condition should never be a reason to deprive a person of their human rights or to exclude them from decisions about their own health. Yet all over the world, people with mental health conditions continue to experience a wide range of human rights violations. Many are excluded from community life and discriminated against, while many more cannot access the mental health care they need or can only access care that violates their human rights.
Conclusion: People with mental health problems have historically suffered and currently suffer human rights violations. They are also often subject to misconceptions and false beliefs that promote stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes such as the belief that they are dangerous, have no capacity to make decisions by themselves or are weak, among others. Many people who have a mental health problem say that the stigma they experience is worse than the disorder itself.Globally, the rights of the mentally ill have been neglected for far, far too long. It is time to fix this.
