Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. - The Dalai Lama
The topic of discussion this week was Mental Health. This subject is fascinating to me and has been since I took psychology as an undergrad. However, because of stigma and discrimination, we often sweep the subject under the rug. The funny thing is that the issue is so big, we just keep tripping over the rug. If we invested more in mental health and well being, we could invest less in other health care services since we would be addressing many of the issues that cause people to engage in risky and self-destructive behavior. Just think of all the good that could be achieved if we focused on happiness and emotional well being instead of all of the sickness that is primarily caused by our own actions.
Is it possible to shift the paradigm for global mental health to change the future course of obviously related problems such as alcoholism, drug addiction and domestic violence; and the not-so obviously related problems like, obesity, heart disease, cancer and diabetes?
2 comments:
I agree that one of the best ways to address the issue is to first acknowledge it. I was taking this mental health class last year, and here's the really amusing thing: no one in that class has ever seen a mentally ill person prior to that class when we had a mentally ill person as a guest speaker.
Hello Rosie,
I fully support the idea that we should value mental health in the same way we value physical health. It is completely acceptable for someone who stay home from work for a physical illness (flu, etc), but staying home from work for a mental health issue is frowned upon. It is true that our society forces people to cover up and feel shame about mental health problems.
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