No less an authority than the world health organization has said that there is no health without mental health. From the very highest levels of healthcare, there is recognition that you cannot truly be a healthy person without paying attention to your mental health as well.
In ancient Egyptian, Indian, Greek, and Roman writings, mental illness was categorized as a religious or personal problem. The mentally ill were believed to be possessed or in need of religion. Apparently, these negative attitudes (maybe now in different forms) towards mental illness are still prevalent in the 21st century. This has led to stigmatisation of mental illness and those suffering from it.
Most of this stigma stems from the lack of awareness and understanding of mental health. This, however, could be reduced (or even possibly eliminated) if only there were an increased amount of sensitization and publications about the condition. These two efforts collectively, could help raise awareness.
Otherwise, to understand mental health and mental illness (as well as the adjacent conditions), the ideal premise to start from would perhaps be considering the questions and the responses that follow.
What is mental health?
The world health organisation defines mental health as:
“a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”.
In other words, mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices.
Why is it important?
Mental health is important at every stage of our lives – from childhood to adolescence, and through adulthood. Maintaining a positive mental health and treating any mental health condition is crucial to stabilizing constructive behaviours, emotions, and thoughts. Therefore, focusing on mental health care can increase productivity, enhance our self-image, and improve relationships.
It’s also worth noting that nurturing our mental health does not just improve our daily functioning, but it can also help us control – or at least combat – some of the physical health problems directly linked to mental health conditions. Take stress and heart disease for instance. The way stress is managed might have a positive or negative outcome on heart disease.
Why should we look after our mental health?
Looking after our mental health has various benefits. Good mental health not only aids with our creativity, enables us to work more productively, promotes better relationships with those around us; but it also helps prevent the development of mental illnesses.
On the other hand, poor mental health makes us more vulnerable to certain physical health problems, such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes etc… all of which, if not properly treated, have the potential to result in fatalities.
What are the common types of mental health?
Some of the most common mental health conditions include stress, anxiety, depression, psychoses and schizophrenia. There is also a family of disorders, and these are – personality, bi- polar and co-morbid disorders.
It’s also worth noting that there are serval types of anxiety disorders. The common ones include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Others include, panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety and health anxiety.
In a nutshell
As we start this new year, it might be absolutely imperativethat we put our mental wellbeing at the very fore of our resolutions. This is because the state of our mental health ripples into everything we do, think, or say. Secondly, it’s also imperative that we provide support (where possible) or help seek assistance for those around us, suffering from mental health and/or mental illness.
Lastly, let’s help reduce the stigma that abounds this condition. This could be achieved by understanding and raising awareness. Understanding could be acquired through learning and reading about the condition.
As for awareness, we can all collectively make use of days like the 10th of October (World Mental Health Day), whoseoverall objective is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health.
About the Author:
The author is a chartered accountant, currently working with one of the big four auditing firms.