October 10th marks this year’s World Mental Health Day. The Day’s overall objective is that of “raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health” (source).
Stress and anxiety are often feelings experienced on a daily basis…during your commute to work, getting the kids to school on time, making a presentation in front of your peers, are just a few examples of when we are faced with stressful and anxiety producing situations. Within context, those feelings are perfectly normal, and we often return to a normal level of functioning once those anxiety/stress producing events are removed.
Mental health illness occurs when we are unable to return to that normal level of functioning and are constantly in a state of anxiety, depression, fear, or any such feelings and emotions that cause disturbance in our everyday lives.
Maintaining and being mentally healthy starts with prevention, and prevention starts with self-care. Self-care is all encompassing, including our physical, emotional, spiritual, personal, professional, and psychological aspects that we deal with on a daily basis. Some self-care techniques include:
Mental illnesses affects all – across populations and genders – and the first step to maintaining your mental health is through prevention and self-care.
If you or someone you know is struggling, consider speaking with a mental health professional that would listen and work with you on ways to better the situation.
To read more about mental health across the world, check out this article published in April 2018 by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser. In their research article they present mental health disorders statistics from across the world, prevalence of disorders in certain regions, and risk factors for mental health disorders. You can read the article by CLICKING HERE
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