It is Mental Health Awareness Day on October 10. Having been a student in this field for six years now, I have journeyed with this question of what mental health really means; what is the nature of mental illness and how do we as budding professionals address mental wellbeing?
I feel that mental health and wellness is a state of being when I am aware and accepting of who I am. It’s a state where I can have a sharp and healthy dialogue within and with others, about myself and how I respond to the world around me. This dialogue helps me find a meaningful and functional relationship with the world around me. These conversations though discomforting and challenging at times is the process that helps me grow and mature.
Mental illness is a spectrum that consists of dysfunctions in thought and perception (e.g.Schizophrenia), dysfunctions in memory, consciousness and experience of self (e.g. Dementia and Delirium), dysfunction in emotions (e.g. Depression), dysfunctions in motor activity (e.g.Tics). These are not watertight compartments since a human being operates through thinking, feeling, willing and acting. Neither is mental illness a fixed process. Change is possible and that is the basis of mental health interventions.
All of us at some point or the other experience bottled up emotions, distressing life circumstances, and troubled interpersonal relationships. The severity of the personal distress that these cause and the dysfunction that arises thereof is where the line of distinction is drawn with mental illness.
Having said this, we have to understand that mental illness is a social construct as well. Gay marriages were a criminal offence until they were legalised. Those who fail to fit into the social construct are marginalized. People are also stigmatized and isolated for displaying/ acting out/venting their inner turbulence. Instead of attempting to understand their struggle we often label them.
One important correlation that is being researched more comprehensively now is that many mental health disorders exacerbate or manifest as physical issues and physical issues can complicate mental illnesses. For instance, obesity contributes to the severity of the symptoms of depression. Poor anger management is associated with high blood pressure.
How do we internalize and store life experiences? Many theories point to the fact that difficult and traumatic experiences in childhood are often stored as body memories rather than in clear-cut cognitive frameworks that may manifest later as physical and psychological illnesses.
Despite mandatory counsellors assigned to schools and colleges, despite suicide helplines, despite awareness campaigns, we still witness a large number of suicides and mental health concerns among the young adult population.
What are we as mental health professionals and as a society missing? What is going wrong? Drastic changes in lifestyle and rapid advancements in technology causing disruption to life rhythms, lack of employment opportunities and an increasingly competitive educational environment place an enormous pressure on young adults. There is a constant feeling of being left behind of not “making it.”
I feel that an approach to mental health concerns integrating mind, body and life activities seems to be the way ahead. Therefore collaboration between mental health professionals, medical doctors and practitioners of therapies like reflexology, yoga, art etc, would help in making treatment plans more effective.
(The author is a 24-year-old student pursuing M.Phil in Clinical Psychology. The views expressed in the article is that of the author and do not reflect the views of The New Indian Express)