Ending The Stigma On Mental Health

Mental health is a part of human existence that must be taken seriously as it affect lives individually. It can be defined as one’s emotional well-being, especially with reference to one’s outline on life, ability to cope with stress or the absence of a mental disorder.

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology once said, "Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you." This points that one way or another, every person is going through an illness and if you think I am wrong just because we all seem okay, just remember that "people who need help sometimes look a lot like people who don’t need help." Glennon Doyle.

The World Health Organization, WHO, defined mental health as a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stress of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

The importance of mental health cannot be overrated as it affects the physical and productive life of an individual and his or her community. It affects the individual’s state of well-being, state of happiness, and/or prosperity. A person suffering from depression or bipolar cannot be happy. The sadness that comes with it, is overwhelming, so much that the activity of the individual is reduced to the barest minimum, low energy or hibernation and reduced work thereby, hindering prosperity. According to WHO, the global economy losses about US$ 1 trillion per year in productivity due to depression and anxiety.

Mental health also helps in helping us cope with the normal stress of life. Issues such as failures, fears, uncertainty, anxiety can be managed. It also helps in our outlook on life, giving us a positive attitude towards life hereby increasing our success in every area of our lives, resulting in a productive and happy life.

Unconsciously, mental health affects our physical health. A person suffering from anxiety is at greater risk of having a heart attack. A person suffering from bipolar will end up hurting himself or herself when he or she is in depressive episodes. And a depressed person is at risk of committing suicide leaving loved ones hurt and broken. And if you think mental illness affects just the individual suffering from it, then you got it wrong there as psychopaths and sociopaths hurt others not themselves and you might not be so lucky.

According to WHO,

Almost 800,000 people die from suicide every year; 1 person dies from suicide every 40 seconds. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in individuals aged 15-29 years.

About half of mental disorders begin before the age of 14.

Around 1 in 5 of the world's children and adolescents have a mental disorder.

Depression is one of the leading causes of disability, affecting 264 million people.

People with severe mental disorders die 10 to 20 years earlier than the general population.

It’s sad that with these alarming rates of suicide and deaths, stigma has been placed on mental health and people have developed a non-challans attitude towards it. Going to see a therapist should be as normal as going to a doctor for a check-up. If we keep ignoring it, it will worsen and get out of proportion, and death rates, as well as the suicide rates, will increase drastically causing a decline in the world’s population and economy and loss of our loved ones in turn affecting everyone. Let’s break the silence on Mental Health, let’s heal.

"Mental illnesses are a thing. They are real, and they're very present. And we need to talk about them." Jack Harries.