WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY

 

Let us start with a scenario of a young child who developed  a moderate depression because her basic needs was not properly met. This is due to the financial incapacity of her parent because of the current socioeconomic factors.

On the part of the parent,being responsible for the care of the child is their utmost priority but what can be done when there is unemployment and even the one that is available, the income per capital labour is very low?

This young child,because of the community ninculcate values and expectations chose to keep up with demands as not to get her parent disappointed especially in her academics. She couldn't complain and neither does she get reinforcer and because of this,she was easily deceived to get her needs from a person who see her as an asset to be used and not a person .Her mental health was on a verge of crashing,she felt rejected  in the society because she can't even express her feelings and opinion since it does not change anything. While her parent knows that there was something wrong with her,they could not afford the health care services that she needs. They tried talking with her but things has gone beyond what they thought and this girl became suicidal.

Why should a situation like this occurs?

 _INDIVIDUAL'S MENTAL HEALTH IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD AND WHAT CAN BE DONE_ 

The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) President Dr Ingrid Daniels has announced the theme for World Mental Health Day 2021 which is ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World’.

In a world 🌍 that is  increasingly marginalized with the very wealthy becoming wealthier 💶, and the number of people living in poverty still far too high and they are getting poorer.

Research shows that external factors such as socioeconomic, which exist well beyond a person’s body and mind, can play an important role in worsening mental health. While personal behavior is critical for positive well-being, a person can only adopt  new habits to suppress and cope with powerful forces over which they have little say.

Mental health improvement should involve addressing and reducing inequality.

When someone loses their ability to pay rent or buy food for their family because of our government’s failure to manage a pandemic,provide employment for it citizen, psychiatric care will have a minimal impact,” 

 According to UN 2016 data, “nearly 800,000 persons die 😔every year by suicide, and 79 per cent of global suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries in which Nigeria is one.

There is a high level of inequity in the area of access,affordability and available to health care especially to the remote areas and this is why mental illness and disorder kept rising because of the marginalization. Even though wellbeing does not come only from the circumstances that surrounds us but also from the attitudes and habit we choose to focus on .

In this world of inequity, there us a need to take a step beyond what the government can do to help us and first find a way to improve our mental health.

Some things to do is 

▪️Reaching out and connecting to friends  family 

▪️Developing skills such as meditation, relaxation,exercise.

▪️Learning to speak to a person that can be trusted when having crises that are beyond one's power. 

▪️Exercises are just some of the examples of activities that can help.

For those individuals that don’t have a mental health disorder but have found themselves struggling to cope on occasion, such activities mentioned above are likely to be even more beneficial as a protective measure to prevent a further deterioration in mental health.

#worldmentalhealthday

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