World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
Mental health comprises how a person thinks, feels and behaves. These three components of mental health are determined partly by biological factors such as genes and brain chemistry which a person may not have control of. Family history is another factor that affects the mental health of an individual and the other factor is the life experiences one goes through in his/her lifetime.
Failure to provide mental health care services results in many social and economic problems;
- Suicidal deaths with over 800,000 suicides yearly, 80% of which were depressed at the time they commit suicide.
- People with mental disorders fail to seek treatment due to the stigma associated with it.
- Physical illness such as stroke, heart diseases and some cancer may affect people with untreated mental illness. Mental illness has been found to reduce life expectancy by between 10 and 20 years!
- Mental illness may cost the economy in terms of time wasted in disabilities and time off work. It is estimated that treatment of mental illnesses will cost the global economy $16T by the year 2030.
- Violence and war may arise as is the case with many African countries from the 1990’s.This may require community and individual approaches and take a long period of time.
A bottom up approach when it is integrated with the primary health services, will help handle mental health cases at the remotest areas. Trauma Healing Institute equips volunteers on basic mental health principles.
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Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
