WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY!

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Today 10 October, 2014 is World Mental Health Day! I am invited to speak about positive mental health in a city college, so I looked at the theme for this year.  I found Schizophrenia was the focus: which is a diagnosis given to some persons who have distorted beliefs and experiences, wherein the person loses touch with reality, sees and hears things that are not there, has irrational beliefs, acts strangely because of the delusions and hallucinations.

It is very tough and challenging to work with persons who have schizophrenia; an episode of schizophrenia can take a long time, and can be very frightening too.  I remember having 2-3 persons who were schizophrenics and were regular for counselling sessions at our centre.  The WHO statistics says that there are at least 26 million people living worldwide with this problem.

It is said that the causes is associated with chemical changes in the brain, and also due to stressful experiences in life, and other reason is also said to be recreational drugs also trigger an episode in vulnerable persons.

I feel so happy to talk about positive mental health to the students; as the topic itself brings in a lot of energy to me, and every time I take a session, I feel new, and desire to relook at my own self to look at those aspects which I am struggling to integrate in order to be positive and healthy.

I recall and remember in one of the sessions I attended on holistic health years ago, and the speaker was emphasizing on the importance of positive mental health, stating that good mental health is a sense of well being, that brings in confidence in ourselves and enhances our self esteem.   

While I was preparing for this session; I looked at the time given was just an hour, and in an hour’s time I needed to orient the students on what is mental health, difference between mental health and mental illness; and how can we improve our mental health.

There is enough and more material available at my centre, and also on the internet; so today I just highlighted the important aspects of staying mentally healthy.  The girls were quite enthusiastic and smart and they were knowledgeable to talk about exercise, yoga, meditation, nutrition, water… so I did not touch upon these aspects; but felt inspired to focus on being emotionally healthy… explored with them as to how they deal with emotions like anger, jealousy, resentment, hatred, forgiveness. 

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There was pin drop silence as I spoke and I was happy to share on dealing with anger in a healthy manner; learning to handle emotions of jealousy and cultivating habit to forgive, letting go, moving ahead in life, living fearlessly, positive thinking and practice Gratitude every day!

I thank and appreciate the organizers for scheduling this awareness programmes in the colleges and bringing in change among youth.

If you are young and are struggling with any issue related to fear, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, Bipolar, schizophrenia …

There is hope!! For there are organizations working in the area of mental health...  

If you are in Hyderabad you can contact: 

Makro Foundation http://www.makrofoundation.org that has a helpline with the number 040-46004600. 

There are also other organizations that work specifically for suicide prevention…. 

If you are in a college or university in Hyderabad, you can even contact Sahayam, Osmania University’s Psychological Counseling centre, email at sahayamou@gmail.com or dial 040-27682451.

Be Happy !