It is normal for us to avoid uncomfortable conversations. Listening to the troubles of people bothers us. We often try our best to avoid sad people.
On the other hand, we ourselves are afflicted with countless pains. We seek for ears that will listen. We search for eyes that will see past our smiles. We want to be understood. However, we are more often than not, met by lack of appraisals regarding our problems..
A different scenario would be us suffering in silence. We practise stonewalling despite the availability of people that care for us and want us to share what we are going through.
Where is our consciousness lagging in understanding ourselves and our counterparts? Is there no way out of this difficulty? What help might be available to us? Can we become our own saviours?
Statistics
The World Mental Health Report in 2022 prepared by the World Health Organisation gives an account that one in eight people suffer from mental disorders worldwide. The Global Burden of Disease study conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation reported in 2017 that the figure of people living with some kind of mental disorder was 792 million.
Depression, anxiety, bipolar and eating disorders, substance abuse and schizophrenia were a few of the rampant mental problems leading to suicide being the third most common cause of death in teenagers. According to a page ‘DisturbMeNot’, one in every 100 deaths is caused by suicide when only one out of 20 suicide attempts is succesful.
Many struggle to identify the mental disorders they suffer with for what they actually are and what triggers them. Aware people are also not willing to be under a medical care regime immediately. In America, around 42.6% of the sufferers received mental health services in 2020, reports 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health carried out by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Statistics from 2015 have shown that 14% of hospital beds were occupied by psychiatric patients in all of the European Union countries.
Qualifications
Professionals in mental health avenue are not limited to just hospitals and clinics but also practice in private capacity or as an employee in schools, corporate bodies, government offices and research facilities. They provide their invaluable services in fathoming the mental issues and reasons behind them, in helping individuals tackle their problems and in finding appropriate coping mechanisms along the way.
The mental health workers are found to be working under following titles:
- Psychiatric Nurse
- Psychotherapist
- Psychologist
- Registered Mental Health Nurse
- Licensed Professional Counsellor
- Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Any mental health profession aspirant must obtain a specialised schooling in psychiatry. A bachelor’s degree in subjects like clinical psychology, social psychology, human behaviour or counselling and any other relevant field is required to qualify for a licensed mental health professional followed by a master’s degree and a doctoral if we want to continue the validity of our licence.
We have to apply for a licence to the relevant board of our state after acquiring the minimum level qualification. The obtained licence must be renewed timely along with fulfilment of the continued study criteria.
Institutions and Initiatives
WHO World Health Report 2022 further discovers that less than 2% of a nation’s health care budget goes to mental care facilities on an average and half the world population resides in countries with availability of 1 psychiatrist for 200,000 or more people. Middle and low-income countries are bound to leave their mental disorder diagnosed citizens in treatmentless conditions because of the lack of material and human resources.
Sustainable Development Goal has prioritized reduction in suicide rates by 2030. ‘LIVE LIFE’ is an approach undertaken by the WHO to help countries reach this goal. WHO has further shown commitment through its Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030. The plan provides all countries with a blueprint to handle mental health issues. Even if the plan is optional, the nations sure have received a design for progressive steps to achieve optimum possible mental health stability for its population.
Obstacles
When people fighting with mental health issues do not keep the courage to address them technically and get medical help, any or a combination of following factors is often the reason.
- Lack of awareness: We experience our inconvenience but are not able to identify them as mental health problems. We were never taught our minds could also fall sick as our bodies do. That there exist such issues of the brain is something unlikely for us. We suffer more out of ignorance.
- Costly Services: The mental health therapy sessions, psychological counselling and medications are costly treatments. Most of the time economic frustration is what puts people at the brink of such problems in the first place. They cannot afford to spend money on the cure of the same.
- Centralised facilities: Infrastructures of health facilities are often situated at the centre of the country, more so in developing and underdeveloped countries. It is not quite viable for people wanting to access the mental health services to decide on a journey to the capital, incurring costs of accommodation and risks of uncertainty on top of the cost of health services.
- Social Settings: Our society is not accepting of the fact that people may go through mental problems and that may happen at any age in any situation. The pressure to maintain the social standards of visible well-being pushes the mental health victims to greater suffering. Why mental health issues are still treated as taboos needs to be explored out of the hushed conversations.
- Uncompassionate Community: The prevalence of mocking culture and lack of deeper understanding in even the circles of closed ones keep the victims from opening up about their inner struggles. It is evident that we, as a social community, lack compassion for our fellow community members when the demons of their minds are gradually groping them.
Conclusion
Pain is uninviting does not mean ignoring it will save us troubles. It only intensifies our problems and eats us from within. The need for a better educated society and understanding individuals within that social network is definitely of prime importance, But the government holds a special role in increasing the number of mental health facilities, mental health professionals and an easy affordable access to those services nationwide. Even greater responsibility falls on our part as mental health victims to try to help ourselves, to seek aid and be willing to get ourselves out of the darkness through active digging of the root causes and their solutions. It is on us to become a responsible friend to the patients around us.