Breaking the Stigma-Why Mental Health Awareness Matters

“Mental health…is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going.” from Noam Spencer, PhD.

The above quote says it all. These days, mental illness is a very common issue that is affecting people of every age-group and backgrounds. According to the research conducted by the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) stated that one person out of 5 people is suffering from mental illness on a yearly basis. It is categorized as different disorders such as anxiety, eating, mood and psychosis. There is also an involvement of stigma that keeps revolving around these issues. This also stops an individual to seek help and look for the relateable solutions. In this blog, the main discussion is about how to fight with stigma and mental health awareness. Must go through it thoroughly to get answers to your questions.

Background of mental health:

To talk about mental health and the stigma associated with it, let’s begin with some great initiatives and achievements associated with mental health. The journey of psychology and mental health coverage starts from the ancient times with great communal based scholars and embraces this field with the modern world.

The Emergence of Psychology

Al-Kindi:

Muslims philosopher “Al-Kindi” was the founder of human psychology. He conducted the first experiment related to psychology. His discovery states that the sensation is directly proportional to the stimulus. Also including the dreams and named “Nafsani” as spiritual connection with the closed relations. It develops whenever a person loses his/her personal relationship or any belongings.

Al-Farabi:

He brought the concept of social psychology. Also proposed that an individual can’t learn all the skills by himself. There is a need of the social circle to learn collective traits. Also including the association along with them. Al-Farabi brought two main principles including soul and body.

Ibn-e-Sina:

Ibn-e-Sina was the first person who introduced neuropsychiatry in the field of psychology. He also described various mental health conditions such as nightmare, insomnia, stroke, mania, hallucination, paralysis and epilepsy. Including the treatments like involvement of the emotions and changes in the feelings inside the body.

Imam Ghazali:

He started the discussions about oneself, reasons of happiness and sadness in their lives. Used four terms for an individual: soul, heart, intellect and spirit. Imam Ghazali also mentioned that there are sensory and motor motives that a body needs. Just like hunger: the body needs food to grow and for nourishments. Angry mood starts when ready for revenge or some battle. The linkage of the impulses is with the five senses externally.

Modern Psychology and Mental Health

In modern psychology, there is a spectrum to denote the perspectives of life. Each one of them has its own advantages and presents related therapy. Therapists can make amendments just according to the changing in lifestyle.

Following perspective are:

Behavioral perspective:

It is completely dependent on the actions and results are received after the response received. Here, the psychologists ask to express the emotions and speak the heart out as much as possible.

Humanistic perspective:

The objective of this perspective is considering humanity as a whole. Including individuality and loving yourself. It helps to build self-esteem and heals some of the popular health conditions such as depression and relationship issues.

Biological perspective:

In this perspective, genes are respondent to the reactions and more factors are included in it. Such as our brain, hormones and chromosomes. This is all about noticing behaviors collectively and finding the root cause.

Evolutionary perspective:

It is also based on research and brings evolution to process human psychology. As per suggestions, the brain processes and sends responses according to the events that happened in the past. Also ready to accept the changes happening in the surroundings.

Cognitive perspective:

The most relatable perspective in this digital era is the cognitive perspective. It has become therapy and shows you how to identify negativity in yourself. Presenting solutions connected with the behavior and leading towards the solutions.

Psychodynamic perspective:

This is presented under the research of Sigmund Freud. He stated that the actions are dependent on unconscious behavior. Its background can be related to childhood trauma. Later, resulting in the dysfunctionalities.

Cross-cultural perspective:

It is introduced as the latest branch of psychology. All about how different people view, think and feel the situations. There are proper guidelines available to carry out the sessions as directed.

The Future of Mental Health and Wellbeing

As the mental health cases are increasing, there is also a need for health workers and relatable services. It is required and essential to receive high returns by investing on improvement of wellbeing Here, the three recommendations are for the officials and authorities to work on these programs:

Expand the accessibility to the digital medium for those who are working on mental health services. Like Wellfolks.
Collection of detailed data of young ones to the adults for data analysis. Including the latest tools and technologies to choose the best possible treatment.
Government has to increase the budget in hiring the best professional mental health care providers and professionals. This can also decrease the number of reports about mental disorders.

What do you call mental health stigma?

The stigma around mental health points to discrimination and stereotypes. These are the attitudes disturbing the mental state. Luckily, there are options to break the stigma that are discussed in the next heading.

With this heavy motivation and sense of acknowledgment that how it begins and becomes a major point of study with implementation in our day to day lives, let’s move towards the possible dialogue and solution to break the stigma surrounded by Mental Health

What are the ways to fight and break the stigma?

Educating and awareness program:

Education is the strongest tool for facing and fighting the stigma. Get to know about various health scenarios as much as possible. Including their root causes, symptoms and options available for treatment. More the knowledge you have, the simpler it becomes to accept the challenges.

Speaking openly:

Develop a proper environment where you can discuss all the matters openly and without being afraid to be judged. Encourage and motivate your social circle to talk freely about mental health. They can be your colleagues, friends or anybody from the family. Create your own comfort zone where it is simple to share the feelings and be supportive to one another.

Discussing the private stories:

These stories help in picturizing the struggles facing to cope up with mental health. Every individual needs encouragement to share their stories whether it is an in-person discussion, sharing their experiences through digital forums like blogs or on social media. Their life’s journey is to be presented as an inspiration to others and make them feel that they aren’t alone anymore.

Soft tone:

Be polite and gentle whenever you are addressing mental health. Avoid harsh words and slow down your tone with a welcoming gesture towards the victim’s problem. Always highlight the strengths and show the way to a successful journey ahead.

Sympathy and supportive environment:

Become a good listener and offer various solutions. Also mention a positive perspective to look for help as a strength. Show the importance of mental health with a similar understanding and in depth learning to physical and emotional health as well.

Collaboration with the advocates and organizations:

Join hands with the advocates and various organizations who are dedicatedly working on mental health programs. Initiating such programs, participation, leading and promotion of these mental wellbeing policies. Collectively, we can bring everlasting changes and break down all the hurdles of stigma.

What are the ways to increase mental health awareness?

Without any doubt, depression is the most popular among all and everyone has experienced it since past years. First and most important way is through education. It also includes the recent statistics of WHO, it states that more than 30 million of the people In Pakistan are suffering from mental health illnesses. Unfortunately, they are unaware about this fact and are not considering it as a disorder. To resolve these issues, it is required to take following initiatives to progress in a better way:

Normalize and launch awareness programs to provide suitable treatments.
Discuss and speak your heart out with your close ones like family, friends or any colleague.
Don’t shy in asking about support and looking for the cure.
Additionally, involve yourself in those communities who are looking for volunteers regarding mental health.
Communicate with your legislators and inform them to react in the form of actions.
After becoming a member of relatable communities, keep engaging and bring the mental health relatable topics into limelight.

Utilization of the resources:

The resources offered by the community are important for the families suffering from mental sickness. It consists of therapies, supporting groups and helplines. Fortunately, Wellfolks is a platform facilitating these services at a single place. At Wellfolks, there is a team who is dedicated and highly skilled in treating mental illnesses and fostering well-being. They keep working to fulfill all the requirements by underlining the issues. Every step is simplified to make an individual understandable. The availability of detailed resources not only supporting wellbeing but contribution to the society as a single unit.

Wellfolks aims to promote personality growth and self-love. This also reduces the stigma at a larger extent around mental health. So, what are you waiting for? Connect with the Wellfolks today and start living a harmonious life.