MAKING EVERY DAY A MENTAL HEALTH DAY

Are you keeping well?

Is there anything troubling you?

You know you have me if you want to share something, do not have a hard time alone.

If you are feeling sad, express it, you’re not being a burden by sharing your feelings.

At times, these simple words of reassurance and comfort can lift up someone who is battling their own thoughts and feelings every day. Mental Health is one of the most talked about topics today. It has penetrated through all varieties of media, be it interviews, movies, podcasts, songs, blogs and news articles. However, there is one place it has failed to make its mark. Our minds. We talk about it, but do we really understand it? We say it’s important but have we really internalised the impact that this term holds?

Formally, WHO defines mental health as a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. World Mental Health Day is celebrated on 10th October every year and this time around the theme attached to the day reads ‘Making Mental Health & Well-Being for All a Global Priority.’

‘Your body is honest, when you’re in physical pain you cry. But the heart is a liar, it stays quiet even when it’s hurting.’

- It’s okay to not be okay, 2020 (K-Drama)

It is human nature to lean towards believing things one can see with their own eyes. What they do not see, they do not understand. Dismissal of the existence of mental health issues often arises from the fact that these are wounds that cannot be seen. When a child falls down and hurts himself parents immediately take him to the doctor to get treated. But if the child is struggling mentally and conveys the same, he is labelled as an ‘attention seeker’ or an irresponsible person hiding from his responsibilities behind the curtain of a bad mental state. This cultural mentality of saying ‘get over it’ is often what restricts victims to talk about their pain. There is fear, doubt, and shame in the fact that they are suffering and as a result they bottle up everything inside. What people fail to realise however is the fact that our mental state holds a very strong relation to our physical well-being. Popularly discussed problems like depression and anxiety can result in heart diseases, obesity, and turbulent blood pressure to name a few. Would we only come around to solving the problem once it has manifested in the entire body? Would we allow people around us to go through stages of pain because of our lack of sensitivity and awareness?

To carry on in life, it is important to take off the baggage weighing us down. Imagine how much easier life would get, if we simply removed the stone narrowing our vision that ‘there is something ardently ‘wrong’ with those seeking professional help.’ People often are heard saying, ‘why should I take help? There is nothing wrong with me’. Or ‘don’t worry, I won’t die.’ It is human tendency to put ourselves first in times of danger. Then why do we neglect ourselves in the face of what society would think and continue to live in built up agony? Similar to how we visit doctors for health check-ups, we can visit therapists to understand our difficulties and gain a different perspective to help solve our problems. Often, we realise that even the biggest problems can have the simplest solutions that we failed to see by ourselves.

One such big problem struck our lives recently. The pandemic struck the world like a blanket of storm and turned our lives topsy turvy. None of us were quite prepared for the havoc it brought about, and many are still reeling from its aftereffects. A lot of us lost loved ones to this battle, and a huge number were lone warriors. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO), global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%.

Multiple reasons have been identified for such an unprecedented rise in the same. Loss of physical human contact was emphasised to be one of the leading causes affecting people’s mental wellbeing. While there was a massive increase in online communication methods during this period, seeing each other through a lit-up box couldn’t replace the intimacy and richness of personalising another individual’s presence, touch, body language and smell. Along with this there were also restrictions on people’s ability to work, engage in outdoor physical activities and immense financial tensions. On the other side of the fence, the health workers who were constantly on their feet dealing with covid patients also suffered a blow. Being continuously surrounded by direct chance of infection, exhaustion due to overworking and the helplessness resulting from lack of resources to save patient’s lives took a huge toll on their mental state.

However, the fact of life is that every coin has two sides. Covid 19 has also played a huge role in bringing the topic of Mental Health from lingering along the edges to the centre of everyone’s attention. Dévora Kestel, rightly mentioned that the pandemic has generated interest in and concern for mental health. A lot of celebrities came out to talk about their struggles, people started discussing their feelings more openly and began realising how deeply our mental state can affect our daily routines. There was increased sensitivity to the fact that mental health problems are indeed real and not an excuse for escaping. However, this amplified awareness on the topic also shined light on the chronic global shortage of mental health resources that continues till date. WHO’s most recent Mental Health Atlas showed that in 2020, governments worldwide spent on average just over 2% of their health budgets on mental health and many low-income countries reported having fewer than 1 mental health worker per 100 000 people. Due to increased sensitivity towards the topic however, governments are being urged to increase expenditure and resources in this domain. History has been a witness to the fact that when people come together, change is possible. It is understood that while we still have a long path to traverse in normalising mental health and making it an acceptable part of our daily lives, we are slowly beginning to wrap our minds around it, and that is progress in ever on-going path of healing.

“Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.”

- Tori Amos

‘Healing’ is not a destination; it is a continuous process that has its own bridges and roadblocks. A lot of people visiting therapy hold a misconception that once they have started seeking help their emotional graph would only draw itself upwards. When we scrape our knee, at first it bleeds profusely, but eventually the skin dries up indicating that it is healing. However, before the new skin comes up it itches, and the damaged skin has to fall off. Mental healing is similar. Some days we feel better, and pops of optimism shine through. We feel happier, the day seems brighter and productivity is sprinkling through our fingertips. Turning the page to another day might result in a gloomy feeling, shutting off people around and work seeming like the last thing on our ‘want to do list.’ It is important to understand that both days are okay. A beautiful painting doesn’t result without a messy splatter of paint around the room. What results in growth is picking ourselves up from the days we slipped. Taking out the time to do things that we feel like, whether it be journaling, self-care, going to the gym, cooking or reading. Establishing a healthy lifestyle of sleeping on time, finding time in the day to meditate and doing exercises or yoga might help us lead healthier and happier lives. Spending time with people we love and surrounding ourselves with positivity might aid in the process of achieving a happier version of ourselves.

As we grow older, we start believing in showing the perfect side of ourselves, smiling in presence of others but crying alone. A child might draw a tree upside down but is happy to show it to his mother but with time, we say "I'm okay" even when our life feels upside down. No. You’re not. And that’s okay.

You need help, and that’s okay.

You want someone to talk to, and that’s okay.

You want to scream and cry, and that’s okay.

You want a hug and a pat on the shoulder to edge you on, and that’s okay.

Most of all, it’s okay to not be okay.

“Mental Health Day doesn’t come around once a year. It is there in our lives the day we decide to prioritise ourselves, take a necessary break and realise that our mental well-being transcends all other domains we might consider important. To realise, that I come first for myself. Every day is a mental health day.”

REFERENCES

World Mental Health Day 2022. (2022, June 16). Retrieved October 8, 2022, fromhttps://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/2022

Mental health: strengthening our response. (2022, June 17). Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response

COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. (2022, March 2). Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide

Written by

Ananya Kalra (2nd Year)

Reviewed by

Jaya K (Editor in chief)

Bhavi Takkar (Deputy Editor in chief)

Akshita Tanwar (Associate Editor)