Mental Health by Arene Mmaduabuchi Ogbu

MY TOPIC : MENTAL HEALTH.

BUT,  WHAT ABOUT ME

NTAL ILLNESS?

She had delay for giving birth for 15 years.

Eventually, she conceived and gave birth to her first child at the age of 40.

Then tragedy struck...

The baby was ill and eventually died after two months of delivery.

She slipped into depression and later lost her mind.

No one was there for her.  She was abandoned instead of treating her mental illness.

They came back from work one day and met her in her pool of blood.

She had committed suicide.

What a sad story!

This has being the lot of many because of lack of knowledge in the area of mental health and mental illness.

That's why I'm writing this to help prevent unfourtnate incidents like the one mentioned above.

But before I proceed to my topic MENTAL HEALTH, let's grab this popular health quote...

"Health does not always come from medicine. Most of the time. It comes from peace of mind, peace in the heart, peace in the soul. It comes from laughter and love".

Meanwhile Mental health is the level of psychological well-being or an absence of mental illness. It is the state of someone who is "functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment.

From the perspectives of positive psychology or of holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, inter-generational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others.

The WHO further states that the well-being of an individual is encompassed in the realization of their abilities, coping with normal stresses of life, productive work and contribution to their community.

Lets differentiate  Mental health and mental illness according to the U.K. Surgeon Journal (1999), mental health is the successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and providing the ability to adapt to change and cope with adversity.

While the term mental illness refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders—health conditions characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress or impaired functioning.

On a quest to search for the causes of mental illness,  we have some factors that Cause mental illness  amongst; Environmental factor, Biological factor, and Psychological factor.

Environmental Factors: include death,  divorce,  low self-esteem,  a dysfunctional family life,  anxiety,  Anger or loneliness,  changing jobs or schools and substance abuse by the person's parents.

Biological Factors; include,  Genetics (heredity),  expert believe that many victims of mental Inness are linked to abnormalities in many genes,  susceptibility is passed on a families through genes.

Psychological Factors; severe psychological trauma suffered a child such as emotional,  physical,  sexual abuse and early loss of ones pet.

It is quite interesting to look into the Signs and Symptoms  of mental illness which include: feeling sad or down, Confused thinking,  excessive  fears,  Worries or Extreme feelings of guilt,  Extremely mood changing of highs and lows, low energy,  Significant tiredness,  Enability to cope with daily problems,  Problems with Alcohol or drug use,  Sex drive,  Suicidal thinking,  Excessive Anger/violence etc.

In a hurry I will not forget to incite this article that I read  in a social media,  A Primary School teacher asked her pupils to write an essay on ”A wish you want from God?"
 At the end one of the pupils wrote "Oh God, Make me a Television. I want to live like the TV in my house. So that my parents will spend their time with me.
The TV is the centre of attraction in my house. I want to receive the same special care that the TV receives from my parents. Even when it is not working, the TV has a lot of value".

This portrayed that everyone needs care and love and we can  collectively achieve this through our constant interaction with the people around us and quest to know they state of their mind,  as well show readiness to adjust and be supportive.

The question here "is there any prevention for mental illness?" YES,  there is prevention, though according to the findings there is no sure way to prevent it, however if you have a mental illness,  taking steps to control stress, to increase your resilience and to boost low self-esteem may help you keep symptoms under control, follow the steps; Pay attention to warning sign,  Get routine medical care, Get help when you need it,  take good care of yourself.

Do you know that your mental health is a priority. Your happiness is an essential. Your self-care is a necessity.”
Remember that nobody can save you but yourself, and you’re worth saving. It’s a war not easily won, but if anything is worth winning then this is it.



Arene Mmaduabuchi Ogbu
 08138258220
OS/19B/1319
Federal Polytechnic Oko,  Anambra State
Mass Communication
Ebonyi State

Love reading and writing and don't forget currently,  I make best *POPCORN*