Tuesday 30 October 2018
Wednesday 10 October 2018
Happy World Mental Health Day
World Mental Health
Day (WMHD) is celebrated every year on 10th of October. This was
started in 1992 by World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH). This year, the theme
is “Young people and mental health in a changing world”.
Let us now separate
the words in WMHD to understand it better.
Health
If we ask someone how
is his/her health, it is presumed that he/she was suffering from some illness.
Health is always attributed as connected to illness in the background, which
has some negativity. The moment we ask someone how is his/her health, the other
people around will immediately ask what has happened to him. On the contrary,
we say “Health is Wealth”. If it is so, why people have a negative feeling in
the background. The perception towards health earlier was simply it was just
the absence of disease. Let us now see the latest WHO definition, which clearly
added positivity to it.
As per WHO (World
Health Organization, “health is a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
There are two important things in it. One is the word “well-being” is the most
powerful word added intentionally to bring the positivity to the word “health”.
The second is in addition to “physical” word, “mental and social” words are
used for ensuring the complete well-being of a person. This holistic
perspective of health everyone needs to understand and strive for the complete
health of self and society at large. Social well-being is basically dependent
on the reciprocity of the values, ethics and morals in the society and how we
follow them.
Mental
Health
Mental health is
defined by WHO as “a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his
or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work
productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his
community”.
If we see the
definition carefully, out of four aspects
- Realizing his/her own potential
- Coping with the normal stresses of life
- Able to work productively and fruitfully
- To make a contribution to his/her community
except “Stresses”,
remaining all the words are positive. Thus, the perception of looking at
“Mental Health” as a negative thing should change. Moreover, the definition itself
starts with a positive term “well-being”. Sometimes, “Mental Health” is
confused with “Mental Illness” and both the words are used interchangeably. But
both are different words. Both are not antonyms also as from the very definition
of health itself we understood that it is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Mental
Health Day
Is “Mental Health Day”
different from “World Mental Health Day”? Yes both are different.
Wikipedia says “a ‘mental
health day’ is the day when an employee does not come to work and takes a sick day
World
Mental Health Day
As per WHO, World
Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the overall
objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and
mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.
The Day provides an
opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about
their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality
for people worldwide.
Happy World Mental
Health Day
“Happiness” is the main goal of life. Let the
awareness about mental health converts into the reality of maintaining mental
health, thereby complete “health” which brings “wealth” to all of us. Please go through my posts on Happiness - The
Main Goal of Life & Whose Wealth is our Health?
Please go through the
report of WFMH on this year WMHD-2018 theme-