Dr John Mohan Razu
We live in a knowledge-based and technology-driven world. However, for any society or country to grow, progress, and develop, it’s not education, trillion dollars, and others not that important. More than these, the most vital aspect which is fundamentally required for any individual, group, and society is mental health. The reason being, mental health is the key for ensuring economic vitality, social cohesion, wellness, security, and overall well-being of humanity. In order to fulfil this mandate, mental health needs to be given utmost importance and thus be integrated as the most important component in all societal, educational and professional avenues. And so, we need impart awareness on ‘mental health’ in all domains.
Nowadays we are concentrating and prioritizing many others especially critical thinking, skill development, creativity, competence, communication and connectivity and many others, but have failed to take into account the core of all these vis-à-vis mental health. As we progress and keep climbing higher and higher, we tend to forget about the mental health or have not taken it more seriously. In the past somehow, there has been some kind of coping mechanisms and support systems available to balance our ‘mind’.
There is a need and necessity to derive clarity on these conceptions – ‘mind’ and ‘mental’. ‘Mind’ is a noun, while ‘mental’ is an adjective – a scientific term commonly used for mental disorder. Whereas the ‘mind’ is a set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. At the same time, while ‘brain’ is considered to be a ‘physical thing’, whereas ‘mind’ is related to ‘mental’. These two terms ‘mind’ and ‘mental’ presently are gaining momentum and assuming greater significance. Increasingly in the last few years, millennials across the world especially in India have been complaining about the state of their mental health.
We tend to think that if we have good physical fitness, it automatically takes care of our mind/mental. In reality it is not true as we come across those who are physically fit keep complaining about their mental state. Nick Kyrgios and Naomi Osaka, top-ranking professional lawn-tennis starts had withdrawn from major tournaments complaining about their mental state. Another example is Deepika Padukone, the top Bollywood actor came out complaining about mental health issues in 2015. Currently she is a staunch advocate of ‘mental health’ campaigning in favor of for mental health in national and global fora.
Mental health is increasingly becoming not just the individual or familial, but societal. The numbers who have been affected by mental illness are growing significantly. Take young school going children. They are worrying about their academic performance stemming out from parental, familial, and peer pressures. Issues related to mental health are on the rise.And the consequential impacts are varying in terms of magnitude and severity. Therefore, it’s better to know all about it by not subscribing to “Ignorance is bliss”.
Experts such as Dr Ruchi Sharma, Consultant Psychologist, HCMCT Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, in nuanced manner adds that “Students, especially adolescents, face a lot of stressors from multiple domains. Brain and bodily changes, personality changes, changes in social dynamics, interests and the additional demands, all have a collective effect on their overall well-being. Some of the most common issues that students come up with include ideological differences and communication challenges with parents, peer pressure, personality changes leading to increased aggression, self-esteem and confidence issues, sleep and appetite-related problems, anxiety and panic, difficulty in attention and concentration.”The above quote amplifies the causes leading to mental ill-health.
In tune to it, Moly Suryawanshi, HOD Wellness, Ridge Valley School observes: “A child spends nearly one-fourth of his/her day in the school with educators and peers. Scholl is the second safe space that the child creates in his/her mind after home and teachers are the second guardians after their parents. Therefore, it is important that schools ensure a safe and healthy learning environment for each child. It can be tough to tell if troubling behavior in a child is just a part of growing up or a problem that should be discussed with mental health professional. But the most common issues that surface are related to separation anxiety and excessive internet usage concerns which result in poor attention span, and poor self-regulation stemming from which could be condition of attention deficit, hyperactivity, poor executive functions, and communication skills being impacted … From one-on-one intervention to educator-parent sensitizing sessions to cognitive behavior therapy, all come together to support the child in bringing back their socio-emotional equilibrium.”.
In addition, online-classes during the pandemic followed by off-line classes seemed to have played a havoc in the mental health of the learners. A parent of a class 9 student Sushma Rajput shared: “The way a classroom functions has changed several times in the last two years. With the pressure of academics, peers, pandemic also added to the anxiety amongst students.” Mind-mental is a dialectical dynamic that compliments each other. And so, they are closely webbed with each other. If anything goes wrong to one will have ramifying effect on the other. Only a tiny percent of our populace has come to reckon with the fact that mental health ought to be seen as an integral part of our overall well-being – be it a child or an adolescent or a grown-up.
We come across periodically is the young scholars committing suicides in IITs. Those who resorted to suicide deaths belong to Dalit and Tribal background. Reasons ascribed for suicidal deaths ranges from depression, isolation, inferiority, taunting, and others. Likewise, women suffer both physically and mentally. Patriarchy employs sophisticated techniques to oppress and dominate women and thus being used in diverse methods to subjugate and wilt their mental resolve. It is a known factor that patriarchy as it moves along the times evolves new ways and means. One crucial weapon it employs attack women mentally/psychologically that automatically wrecks women psychologically resulting in gradually deterioration of physical.
As Dr. Samir Parikh, Director, Medical Health and Behavioral Sciences, Fortis Health care, adds: “Mental health needs to be prioritized and integrated into … not just in India, but worldwide. Awareness around Awareness around mental health and mental illness, early identification, screening, and also solution-based approaches are important … access to resources for intervention on specific concerns – to be learning disability, other illness like depression and anxiety, etc. Prioritizing awareness around mental health also needs to happen so that resilience—building positivity and the culture of well-being …”
Be it class rooms or homes or society or the terrains – private or public, children, young millennials, and women are undergoing serious mental illness due to varied reasons should be addressed and resolved. Those belonging to said categories are the major pillars for the present and future. Their contributions for the present and future for our society and nation should never be minimized or taken for granted. How and in what ways will have to be left to the concerned people, organizations, state governments and the government at the Centre.Trinitarian components – body, soul, mind enjoins wholeness, but without or minus mind/mental, the comprehensive understanding of health becomes just a hole.
