Mental Health Awareness: DO WE KNOW ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH IN INDIA?

10th October is regarded as the world’s Mental Health Day. Mental health is the mental well-being, emotional reactions, and common behavioral changes. 

Most of us think that mental health may be the thinking of a man, but no, it is reflected by the person’s consciousness. The person may be physically present in a discussion. Still, since they may be mentally disturbed, i.e., maybe worried about something else, they cannot concentrate on the current situation. It means they have weak mental health. 

Mental health also affects physical health. When a person is not mentally fit or happy, it will affect their physical health. The person will not be able to eat correctly, exercise correctly, or be good at the workplace. These all are results of weak mental health. A person will not be able to the daily life productivity. 

Mental illness is as dangerous as any other disease, such as cancer, diabetes, or life-threatening illness. As mental health awareness is not spread amongst most people, they hardly take care of their mental illness and talk about it to someone. 

When a person is mentally disturbed for a long time, the person is called a mentally ill person. Also read Mental Health Solutions Ayurvedic Tips to Improve Mental Health

Reasons For Mental illness

• Biological factors

Biological factors mean that a situation that may arise during labor pain may be genetic. This mental illness is not curable, but certainly, we have medications for it, which you may consume for your whole lifetime.

• Self-esteem

 We live in a generation where relationship breakdowns, financial crises, or issues may be regular. People must open up to their close ones and share their problems. The person listening to them must use kind language so that the mentally ill person can speak friendly and half of the mental illness will be cured. 

• Family issues

Family issues are almost the reason behind which a person is mentally ill. The loss of a marriage or a family member’s death may lead to grief, affecting a person’s mental health and mental illness. The person may not be able to cope with the day-to-day activities and may affect the other family members with negative feelings. If there is a child in the family, it will grow with negativity in his mind and always carry negativity.

SYMPTOMS OF MENTAL ILLNESS

Symptoms of mental illness include fatigue, feeling sad for no reason, reduced ability to think, excessive anger, overthinking, changes in eating habits, etc.

• Fatigue

Mental health seems to be retarded when you feel sad without any reason, and you feel something more than sadness almost all the time; you always feel tired, though you have not worked much, both physically and mentally. It is a feeling of restlessness. 

• Confused thinking

A person with weak mental health may always seem confused and have a disability in thinking. The person always has excessive fears, excessive mood changes, and tries to aloof away from family and friends. The person cannot take any decision on his own and always remains confused and hence feels low on being lost in most cases. 

If the mental illness continues and gets worse-day-by day, you need to consult a doctor; otherwise, it may lead to suicidal attempts.

Mental illness may lead to the following diseases:

Nowadays, people are being provided knowledge regarding mental health awareness as they observe their mental health is being spoiled due to overthinking petty issues that affect their physical health. They get diagnosed with some mental diseases, like obesity, anxiety disorders, behavioral and emotional disorders in children, depression, and paranoia.

• Obesity

The lifestyle of a person with mental illness is changed. The person does not exercise, eating schedule is wholly altered. They eat more than needed because they cannot concentrate on a single thing, leading to overeating and obesity. 

• Anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are a group of mental illnesses, like unnecessary fear, stress disorder, social phobia, general anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. If this anxiety disorder is not treated on time correctly, it might be life-threatening.

• Depression

Depression is a type of mental illness that is not only sad; it is a change of mood frequently accompanied by loss of interest and enjoyment and loss of energy. There are various types of depression and multiple levels of depression. If depression persists for a long time, it may lead to suicidal attempts.

• Paranoia

Mental illness may include paranoia. It is a mental health condition where you get thoughts that are not true. When you sit in a group, you may think that people must criticize you or talk about you, but that may not be the reality. 

Treatment of Paranoia is consuming medicines or visiting a psychiatrist. Patients suffering from paranoia think themselves constantly to be right, though they are not. They want to fulfill their needs through mercy and stubbornness.

Mental Health Awareness

Mental health awareness is understanding the essential symptoms of mental illness and applying treatments by contacting physicians or specialized doctors to treat those mental illnesses. 

When a person is agitated because of his external or internal worries and the environment resulting in abnormal behavior and responses, he is called a mentally stressed person. 

You should be aware of your overall health and signs of ill health and consult your doctor. Almost everyone is aware of the symptoms of physical ill-health symptoms, but people cannot understand the mental illness symptoms. 

Raising mental health awareness by building hospitals for its treatments sharing your mental health, and then consulting the professionals for it may spread the mental health awareness among people. 

Mental health awareness is essential because if you go for regular medicines or take the help of drugs or alcohol, being stressed is more dangerous. If we seek the help of professionals on getting stressed, we are more profitable as being advised for medications than being addicted to harmful drugs or alcohol. 

As the suicide cases in India are increasing, the WHO found out the actual reason behind the suicidal attempts: untreated mental health and no mental health awareness to people was provided. Suicidal cases are mainly among the age group 15-29. 

People with mental health awareness believe that people with mental illness can be cured with medications, and a few can be assumed that mental illness can be cured fully through remedies, which is a myth. People with mental illness need to take the medicines for their entire long life, though the doses can be altered. 

The parliament did not maintain any records of the number of psychologists present in India and questioned whether the pandemic affected mental illness. It had no records of the professionals nor the percentage of people who have a mental illness. It could arrange for higher professionals to treat it, spread mental health awareness amongst people, and educate them regarding mental stress and its consequences. 

Psychological responses often accompany mental stress. The mental stress of a person can be observed if they possess: depression, anxiety, sleep too much or too little, get demotivated very easily, loses memory, low focused attention, gets tensed up very quickly, or are always holed up with some of the other worries. 

Mental stress is of three types: 

1. Acute Stress 
2. Episodic acute stress 
3. Chronic stress.

People with mental issues initially appear with physical problems like headaches, backaches, etc. They can quickly treat their mental issues by consulting a professional and following the medications or other treatments he suggests. Following the doctor's instructions shall be a good option for the person with mental issues. 

When we say that a person’s mental health is not good, we mean that the person is worried about something significant to him. The person must share it with somebody to get relief from that problem, or if that problem persists, he must consult a doctor regarding his mental health. 

It is observed that most of today’s youth suffer from mental health due to relationship problems, financial loss, or poor concentration at work. One of the mental health facts is that the depression rate is increased among most youth. The aged may be suffering from other physical diseases, but the youth suffer from mental health issues, which may lead to mental illness. 

Many mental health facts contribute to poor development of mental health due to poor environment in childhood and adolescence. 

CONCLUSION

It is essential to maintain both our mental health and physical health in this era. Since mental illness is not being diagnosed in India, we must make several attempts for mental health awareness amongst almost all people to invent quick medications for people suffering from stress. Mental health facts reveal that most mental illnesses are observed at 14-15 years of age. 

Authored by: Bhavishya Pahwa

About the Author: Bhavishya Pahwa is a budding writer who has always confided in a pen. He believes that art is a cure-all and that introspection followed by writing can add to the sanity of the world.