Hello people, today I'll be taking us through the concept of mental health. What really is mental health, why is mental health important, what are the consequences of mental disorders. I'm sure you're curious already, relax, stay glued and enjoy the content.
In the united state, an individual dies every 15min for committing suicide, that's like 96 people everyday and 35,040 every year. Staggering figures, right?
In Nigeria, about 2 million girls are being raped every year out of which 30% gets infected with STDs, this is according to the ministry if women affairs. What really drives people to this? Are they all mentally sound? Could it be a degeneration of mental problems? Your guess is as good as mine.
Mental health is the state of complete awareness, consciousness and alertness to the social, mental and psychological wellbeing of an individual. Mental health goes beyond the absence of disability of mental disorder or disability, its the ability to respond cognitively to the happenings around your environment. It also deals with the behavioral pattern of people, social coexistence, and the general wellbeing.
Every one has the tendency of developing a mental health problem depending on the state of the mind, lifestyle, social factor, religious believes etc, this is why its the leading cause of disability in the United state. Mental health is a fundamental component of health in the society, hence, its significance cannot be overemphasized.
There are some common signs that accompanies a potential mental health disordered individual, since mental disorder cannot be diagnosed through culture test or MRI scan, its therefore pertinent to look out for susceptible signs. They include;
- Feeling of hopelessness
- Naturally withdrawing from people without reasons
- Lethargy
- Sleeping too often or too much.
- Constant thought of irrelevant things you cant get off your health
- Thoughts of committing suicide or raping someone
- Hearing voices other people around you are not hearing
- Feeling of confusion, obsession, and anger with oneself
- Getting tired of what you normally enjoy doing like hobby
- Having little or no energy
- Loosing control over yourself.
When such signs are observed, the individual should be closely monitored and taken to the medical center for close examination.
There are many types of mental health disorder, a few of them will be highlighted below.
- Generalised anxiety disorder(GAD)
- Bipolar disorder
- Depression
- Schizophrenic disorder
- Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Phobias e.g Agoraphobia
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
Ways of mitigating mental health disorder
In other to have a saner society and mitigate the delirious effect of mental disorder, certain objectives must be put in place. Some of them include;
- Enlightenment of the populace about mental health
- Reduction in poverty index of people so as to curtail incidence of suicides and the likes
- Anti-racism campaigns and enacting of anti discrimination law
- Financial support to the citizenry, etc
Sadly there is no cure for mental health disorder, however, it can be effectively managed. This is dependent on the individual though as different managing procedures are employed specifically for every individual.
Some medication therapy containing anti depressants, anxiolytics and anti psychotics can be used in this regards. A typical drug in this class is sodium valproate which is a well known antipsychotic drug used for the aforementioned purpose.
conclusion
The health status of every individual is very paramount, mental health as one important sector of physical health should not be overlooked.
People suffering with mental health disorders should not be discriminated or left alone to wallow in pains, they should be showed love and care.