A helping hand: Importance of mental health

 

 

The recent murder of Mumbai based girl by her live-in partner in Delhi raised many angles. While many started moral policing, others gave it a communal angle  but the primary issue went under the carpet which was the absolute breakdown of mental health and counselling scenario in India.

Mental health is important and integrates a component of health. Mental health includes a person's psychological, emotional and social well-being. Proper mental health results in proper mental functioning that results in being productive in activities, having healthy and fulfilling relationships with other people, and the ability to cope and adapt to adversity.

Proper mental health is essential at every stage of life - from childhood and adolescence to adulthood. A person can experience mental health problems at any point in their lifetime. It not only affects their mood and behaviour but also changes the way they think, look at life and face challenges.

Even though mental health is a highly individual thing, what affects one person may or may not affect another person; However, some important factors contribute to mental health problems.

These factors include life experiences such as trauma or abuse, biological factors such as genes or brain chemistry, and even a family history of mental health problems that can affect a person. Poor mental health is also associated with stressful work conditions, rapid social change, gender discrimination, social exclusion, physical illness and human rights violations.

 

Mental health problems are common, but for the longest time, people have avoided the whole concept of it and taken mental health lightly. At one time, mental health was considered taboo, and anyone seeking help was labelled as mentally ill. Mental health and mental illness are not the same things.

 

For a long time, mental health has been defined as the absence of mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Mental illness generally refers to all diagnosable mental disorders – health conditions characterized by changes in mood, thinking, and behaviour associated with impaired functioning or distress.

Mental health and mental illness go hand in hand. Individuals with optimal mental health conditions may also suffer mental illness, whereas people who do not have any mental illness may also have poor mental health. Although in the recent times, people have started taking mental health seriously and started taking appropriate steps to deal with any mental health problem. Help is available there; People with mental health problems can get better by seeking help. Like many Shraddha’s there are counselling centres that work on dealing with domestic violence and like many Sushant Singh Rajput's there should be steady help to deal with anxiety and stress.

 

People suffering from mental health issues show various symptoms such as little or no energy, withdrawing people and withdrawing themselves from regular activities, lack of sleep or desire to eat, smoking, drinking alcohol or doing drugs, feeling helpless, shouting and fighting, losing temper very quickly, harms himself and many others.

 

Taking care of mental health is not only getting help from professionals when needed but connecting with others, engaging in physical activities, helping others, getting enough sleep and staying positive that there is a way. Positive mental health allows people to realize their full potential, cope with stress in life, work productively, and make a meaningful contribution to the community.

 So for a better future addressing mental health becomes an utmost necessity.

Anisha Baruah

Ist Semester