World Mental Health Day 2020 : Mental health for all.

 

World Mental Health Day aims to raise awareness in the global community around mental health "with a unifying voice through collaboration with various partners".

That’s according to the World Federation for Mental Health, the organisation behind the day, which was celebrated for the first time in 1992.  World Mental Health Day was just observed as an annual activity of the World Federation for Mental Health and had no specific theme.

However, in 1994, at the suggestion of then-Secretary General Eugene Brody, a theme for the day was used for the first time. The very first theme of the day was “Improving the Quality of Mental Health Services throughout the World.”

This year it takes place on Saturday 10 October. A day designed to encourage authorities to take action and create lasting change within mental health care.

The theme this year is 'mental health for all'.

"The world is experiencing the unprecedented impact of the current global health emergency due to COVID-19 that has also impacted on the mental health of millions of people", says Dr Ingrid Daniels, president of the World Federation for Mental Health. 

"We know that the levels of anxiety, fear, isolation, social distancing and restrictions, uncertainty and emotional distress experienced have become widespread as the world struggles to bring the virus under control and to find solutions. 

Dr Daniels believes mental health is a human right, and that it is time for that mental health to be available for all. 

"Quality, accessible primary health care is the foundation for universal health coverage and is urgently required as the world grapples with the current health emergency. We therefore need to make mental health a reality for all – for everyone, everywhere."

Good mental health is not just about being free from a mental illness. It involves the ability to better handle everything life throws at you and fulfill one’s full potential. Mental illness is now recognised as one of the biggest causes of individual distress and misery in our societies and cities, comparable to poverty and unemployment. One in four adults in the UK today has been diagnosed with a mental illness, and four million people take antidepressants every year. This can have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people in the UK, and can affect their ability to sustain relationships, work, or just get through the day. What greater indictment of a system could there be.

 There are a number of things you can do to take part if you want to share your support of World Mental Health Day. 

The international symbol for mental health awareness is a green ribbon, and the easiest thing to do would be to wear one.

These can be bought from mentalhealth.org.uk/green-ribbon-campaign, and you can also share it as a digital sticker through most social media platforms.

You could also donate to a mental health charity of your choice, and Mental Health UK suggests you also share its ‘WAIT’ acronym, which is a "good way to remember how you can support another person who may be suicidal,” they say. 

Watch out for signs of distress and uncharacteristic behaviour – e.g. social withdrawal, excessive quietness, irritability, uncharacteristic outburst, talking about death or suicide. 

Reach out for support now if you’re considering seriously harming yourself: there are plenty of people to talk to.not encourage it, nor does it lead a person to start thinking about it; in fact it may help prevent it, and can start a potentially life-saving conversation.

It will pass – give hope and assure your loved one that, with help, their suicidal feelings will pass with time.  

Talk to others – encourage your loved one to seek help from a GP or health professional.

Reach out for support now if you’re considering seriously harming yourself: there are plenty of people to talk to.

 I think raising awareness about conditions and treatments is crucial, but so is re-addressing the way we think about mental illness as not just an individual's problem but as something we must consider and address collectively in the way our society functions.  We feel  such huge pressures to feel we fit in somewhere, but actually it is so much more important to accept yourself whether you feel you fit in or not, after all you are the only person who will ever get to define who you are. 

Among the most menacing barriers to the social progress we need around mental health are the profound levels of guilt, shame and stigma that surround these issues. Mental illness scares us and shames us. Those who suffer are often, like me, ashamed to speak of it. Those who are lucky enough to be free of mental illness are terrified of it. When it comes to mental illness, we still don't quite get how it all works. Our treatments, while sometimes effective, often are not. And the symptoms, involving a fundamental breakdown of our perceived reality, are existentially terrifying. There is something almost random about physical illness, in how it comes upon us , a physical illness can strike anyone – and that is almost comforting. But  mental illness seems  to fall into that same category, the fact  it too could strike any of us, without warning should be equally recognised..

But more than simple fear, mental illness brings out a judgmental streak that would be unthinkably grotesque when applied to physical illness. Imagine telling someone with a broken leg to "snap out of it." Imagine that a death by cancer was accompanied by the same smug headshaking that so often greets death by suicide. Mental illness is so qualitatively different that we feel it permissible to be judgmental. We might even go so far as to blame the sufferer. Because of the  stigma involved  it often leaves us much sicker. Capitalist society also teaches us that we are each personally responsible for our own success.  A system of blame that somehow makes the emotional and psychological difficulties we encounter seem to be our own fault.  This belief is such a firm part of ruling class ideology that millions of people who would never openly articulate this idea, nonetheless accept it in subtle and overt ways.  People are often ashamed that they need medication, seeing this as revealing some constitutional weakness.  People feel guilty about needing therapy, thinking that they should be able to solve their problems on their own.  Millions of people fail to seek any treatment, because mental health care is seen as something that only the most dramatically unstable person would turn to. An ill-informed and damaging attitude among some people exists around mental health that can make it difficult for some to seek help. It is estimated that only about a quarter of people with a mental health problem in the UK receive ongoing treatment, leaving the majority of people grappling with mental health issues on their own, seeking help or information, and dependent on the informal support of family, friends or colleagues.
We need to break the silence around mental health.  These are issues that all of us should have some basic exposure to.  The proportion of the population that will experience an episode of acute emotional distress is extremely high.  Those of us who have never been depressed probably know and love several people who have.It  should be no more shameful to say that one is suffering from mental illness , than to announce that one is asthmatic or has breast cancer.  Talking about these issues is part of the solution.  Breaking the silence can be liberating. Mental health care should be part of what we demand when we think about solutions to the economic crisis, we should keep  fighting for the best mental health care to be the  natural right of all designed to meet human needs. Until then, engaging in the struggle toward such a society can be a source of hope. That is a world surely worth fighting for.
If you need to talk to someone, the NHS mental health helpline page includes organisations you can call for help, such as Anxiety UK and Bipolar UK. or call The Samaritans on 116 123.Call your GP and ask for an emergency appointment Call NHS 111 (England) or NHS Direct (Wales) for out-of-hours to help .Contact your mental health crisis team if you have one

Remember it's ok not to be ok, be kind to  yourself.