Why Mental Health is Important
Introduction
Mental health is one of the most important aspects of human life. According to the World Health Organization, mental health is an integral part of complete health. It decides how an individual thinks, talks, behaves.
Mental health as a whole defines the main characteristics of someone’s whole persona. Contrary to popular belief, it is not only about mental illness or disorders. It is about behavioural, psychological, and social aspects of life.
Unfortunately, even though it is as important as physical health, mental health is largely ignored, underestimated. Often issues related to mental health go completely unnoticed. This is why, world needs mental health awareness.
Table of Contents
What is mental health
When we say mental health, often it is mistaken as madness, insanity. Because largely we are not aware of what mental health really is. The world is in dire need of awareness about mental health. So let us first get the definition straight. Mental health is the psychological and emotional wholesome state of well-being.
The human mind has one of the most complex designs and working in existence. And like all things in nature, the human mind also needs nurturing. To be very honest, every living animal on this planet needs their mental health to be taken care of, and humans more so.
Life is difficult and often can be hard to process to even the most healthy minds. The human mind works on processing emotions. Human emotions are complex. But sadly, often emotion is the one thing that is ignored the most. We can not say “move on” to every discomfort, sadness and look at only the positive and bright sides. Such a mindset actually does more harm than help.
Such complexities in life are creating more and more mental health issues worldwide. And it is not as uncommon as we would like it to be. It is estimated that 1 in every 7 people goes through some or other mental health issues globally. Illnesses like Depression, Anxiety disorder, Paranoia are becoming more and more common as life gets more stressful every day.
Suicide has become one of the leading causes of death among youth. WHO claims that globally due to mental health issues, human longevity is decreasing. People with severe mental disorders are most likely to die very young- as much as two decades early.
According to a statistic published in 2018, 17.6% of adults, that is roughly 282.6 million people, worldwide suffer from some form of anxiety disorder that is developed later in life. According to WHO, 264 million adults worldwide suffer from depression. And these official numbers are only based on cases reported. So billions of people actually suffer in silence throughout their life.
To spread more awareness on mental health, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared 10th October as World Mental Health Day to provide an opportunity for humans worldwide to be more aware of the need of nurturing their minds.
Governments of many nations have also taken up the initiative for the betterment of nationwide mental health. In 1982, the Indian government launched the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP). There are also many Non-profit NGOs working tirelessly to raise awareness around mental health and provide resources to the needy.
Why mental health is important
As we know that mental health is the most important part of human life. It plays an important role in helping us live life, deal with situations and manage situations in bad times. If mental health is not good, then we cannot do even small tasks of daily life properly. By looking at the important contribution of mental health in the life of living beings, we can understand why mental health is important.

As we know that mental health is the most important part of human life. It plays an important role in helping us live life, deal with situations and manage situations in bad times. If mental health is not good, then we cannot do even small tasks of daily life properly. By looking at the important contribution of mental health in the life of living beings, we can understand why mental health is important.
Possible Root Causes
The cause of mental health issues may lie in multiple aspects. Mental health issues can be hereditary as well as due to social and economical surroundings and the background of an individual. It can be caused by environmental issues, stressful events, gender and racial discrimination, upbringing and so many other factors.
In simple terms, anyone can develop mental disorders at any point in life. And most mental health issues are a combination of multiple factors.
Sometimes mental health issues are detected at a young age, sometimes they are triggered by some stressful traumatic event. These mental health causes are commonly known as risk factors.
Economic issues
Economic and financial issues are major risk factors of mental health problems. As the world is progressing, the rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poorer. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, gained $75 billion in 2020 alone while billions of people became jobless due to the pandemic. If this is ethical or not, that is a completely different story.
But the point remains that as living is becoming more and more difficult, earning a living is becoming difficult too.
Other than unemployment, economic inflation can also lead to severe mental health issues. The rise in the cost of basic necessities like food, transport can be a factor too as they may create financial pressure on an individual.
According to an article published by WHO in 2011, economic crises like poverty, inequality, unemployment can cause secondary mental health which can become as severe as causing suicide. It mentioned suicidal tendencies and self-harm are common in countries with high financial inequality and hardship, social discrimination, and economical crisis. Increasing imbalance in income inequality is directly proportional to the increasing suicide rate in many countries.
Social Factors
The influence of social issues is one of the most prominent risk factors for mental health issues. Social class background and social upbringing play a major role in a person’s individuality.
It can be easily said that certain populations and certain groups of people are always and will always be at higher risk of mental disorder due to Greater exposure vulnerability and inequality of social, economic, and environmental factors.
For example, people of developing countries like India, Sri Lanka, or African countries like Kenya, Uganda will be at a greater risk of Mental Health disorders.
Whereas people from first world developed countries will be at a much lower risk. This is simply because the population from these two demographics will have completely different access to basic necessities.
Apart from this, the socio-political conditions of the countries also act as a major risk factor for play a major role in the well-being of Mental Health.
Other than the socio-political and socio-economic factors, there are also factors like upbringing, parental influence, family values that play a role in the mental wellbeing and development of an individual. These developmental factors work in building strong mental well-being. At the same time, these factors have the potential of creating emotional distress in the formative years of a child.
The World Health Organisation has discussed the social determinants of mental health in detail in one of the journals published in 2014. This journal has discussed the prevalence of social distribution of income and other resources. The factors that impact the cultural, economical, and political environment throughout one’s life course can be huge determinants.
Life Experience and Trauma
As discussed in the last section, life experiences can be one of the biggest factors in mental disorders, or in the well-being of it. A person’s upbringing, family background, and events experienced throughout their life are the major determinants of their mental health and characteristics.
In simple terms, someone’s life experience can either form or destroy their mental health. If an individual is exposed to traumatic events in the course of their life then they can develop some form of mental disorders.
These traumatic events can be anything like abuse, death of a loved one, heartbreak. In other words, any life experience that leaves a person in distress and creates an emotional scar can be categorised as trauma. Such trauma can cause multiple mental disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorder, depression, and many other severe disorders.
These disorders after experiencing a traumatic event are actually caused by physical factors when someone experiences a trauma, their body’s defenses start working and create a response to the stress. Due to this sudden stress response body goes through sudden changes. Even though this is a biological coping mechanism, it is not a response to a normal situation. Hence, this coping mechanism has an adverse effect physically as well as mentally.
As part of the stress response, the body goes into fight or flight mode. This emergency situation causes sudden chemical production to prepare our body to cope with the event.
In response, the following symptoms may occur
- A rise in blood pressure
- Heart rate increase
- Excessive sweating
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Exhaustion
Such life experiences traumatic events may occur once or multiple times. Prolonged exposure to such trauma can lead to severe damage in mental health like paranoia, schizophrenia along with post-traumatic stress disorder.
These severe stress disorders may not necessarily be visible or even detectable immediately after the trauma. It can take years to start coming to the surface and affect the victim.
Term effects of trauma can be emotional stress, emotional dysregulation, numbing, memory blockage, and many more.
An improvement treatment protocol series published by the Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services Administration of the USA has discussed the understanding of the impact of traumatic events in detail.
Biological Factors
There can be multiple biological factors that affect mental health. Defects during birth, hereditary factors, substance abuse, exposure to toxins, brain defect, or injuries are a few of the causes of mental health problems.
Alcoholism or other drug use disorders of parents during childbirth can cause a severe mental health problem in the child since birth.
A review article published in PubMed in 2017 discussed the effects of parental alcoholism drug use in children. Not only during childbirth but this also adversely affects the mental health of the while growing up with the parent with these disorders.
Hereditary factors also play a major role in deciding an individual’s mental growth. Mental health issues can also be inherited. If one of the parents has a history of mental health issues or any other close family member then a newborn child may also develop similar issues.
These genetic factors contributing to mental disorders can be divided into three categories:
- Epigenetic regulation: Epigenetics is not a constant factor. It mainly defines environmental factors which may lead to mental disorders.
- Genetic polymorphism: This is basically a change in DNA. Genetic polymorphism is normal and makes us unique. However, a combination of one or more genetic changes may develop some form of mental disorder.
- Change in single gene: Changes in the gene are actually extremely rare. However, some such cases have been found.
Another major cause of the mental disorder can be brain damage during birth or in any other phase of life. Severe brain injuries can leave a lifetime impact. A severe injury can lead to disorders like depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and organic mental disorders. Organic mental disorder is a form of decreased mental activity due to disease or any other illness. Usually mental disorders in the aftermath of injury state in the first year after head trauma. Have a word in some cases search disorders have been detected even after 15-20 years of the injury.
Early Signs of Mental Issues and How to Identify
Most mental illnesses hardly ever appear out of blue. Most times these disorders show their presence in small warning signs. Often due to the lack of awareness, these early signs of mental health issues get overlooked or ignored.
On one hand these signs are most often difficult to understand, analyse, and detect at an early stage. On other hand, if these signs get noticed at an early stage then severe mental disorders can be stopped or controlled at the route.
So we will discuss below a few of the most common early warning signs of developing mental health issues.
- Mood swings: Rapid changes in mood is one of the most prominent signs of mental problems. This usually occurs due to suppressed feelings and emotions or as a result of processing unplaced emotion.
- Loss of appetite: Trauma response causes changes in stomach activities. Hence, loss of appetite becomes very common in such cases. Also, mental issues like depression can cause loss of appetite.
- Change or loss of sleep: People with mental illnesses usually have a lot of issues in sleeping. When a person is mentally not well, there can be an extreme change in sleep schedule or complete loss of sleep. This may occur due to the restlessness of the brain.
- Social withdrawal: This is another most prominent warning sign. It is seen that most people who started developing mental illness also withdraw from their social activities and lose interest in activities that they previously may enjoy. There can be a change in activities like lack of interest in academics, or in professional work, dropping out of sports or schools, failing in subjects, lack of concentration, a drop in performance, etc.
- Nervousness and hypertension: Sudden increase in fear, nervousness in performing a normal task, getting tense, and overthinking every situation can also be seen as early signs.
Common disorders
According to the World Health Organisation, mental health disorders are categorised according to many different aspects and there can be many types of disorders. However, some of the disorders are more common than others. Here we will discuss a few of the most common disorders that are affecting the whole world socially psychologically and economically.
Depression
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders worldwide. According to an article published by WHO approximately 64 million people have been affected by this disorder globally. According to them, women are more susceptible to this disorder than men.
The American Psychiatric Association defines depression as mainly a prolonged feeling of sadness, happiness, loss of interest, sorrow. This can also come with low self-esteem loss of appetite, tiredness, etc. Depressive disorder can be mild as well as extremely severe.
Some symptoms of depression
- Sadness, hopelessness
- Loss of interest
- Loss of appetite, change in appetite
- fatigue and loss of energy
- Weight gain or weight loss
- Irregular sleeping, lack of sleep, or sleeping too much
- suicidal tendencies
Anxiety
Anxiety disorder is the feeling of excessive anxiety and worries for a prolonged duration. Along with this there also can be feeling of restlessness fatigue, irritability, and disturbed sleep.
types of anxiety disorders
There are multiple types of anxiety disorders
Generalized anxiety disorder: Excessive feeling of worry and tension with district cause.
Social anxiety disorder: When someone feels an overwhelming sense of self-consciousness and uneasiness in social situations it is called social anxiety. It makes establishing a social connection and interacting socially extremely difficult.
Panic disorder: This is an extreme form of anxiety disorder. Here due to any possible triggers, the patient can feel intense fear causing an extreme panic attack. Discounts with chest pain, sweating, increased heartbeat nausea. The symptoms of a panic attack can be compared to that of a heart attack.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD mainly occurs due to experiencing a traumatic event. This traumatic experience can be for a short or prolonged duration.
One can experience PTSD due to traumatic events such as accidents, loss of loved one, abuse, violence or serious injury, natural disaster, war, etc.
During World War I, PTSD was known as “shell shock” due to the shock of being exposed to sudden bombarding. During World War II, it was known as “combat fatigue”. The idea was that this kind of disorder can only occur when someone has been in a war-like situation.
However, it is more common than just being in war. Ptsd can occur in anyone of any race gender, nationality, culture, or age. This is one of the most severe disorders that affects most adults globally.
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder is another form of mental illness that results in an extreme mood swing. It does not only result in a sudden feeling of happiness or sadness. It is an extreme form of mood swing which is called Mania.
In bipolar disorder, the feelings are extreme on both scales. An episode of mania can for several days weeks or even as short as a few hours. In this high episode, the patient may feel an elevated feeling of happiness where there is no other feeling of sadness, sorrow, or worry with a euphoric feeling of extreme impulsiveness and energy.
In the low episode, a feeling of hopelessness, self-esteem, and depression can engulf the patient. This can be as bad as leading the patient towards suicidal attempts.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD is a type of disorder where people have repetitive thoughts, sensations that makes them repeat one task continuously.
OCD can be extremely distressing and irritating. A patient who has OCD can face extreme difficulty and disruption in everyday life. People with OCD usually know that their reason for distress is unrealistic. But even then these disruptive thoughts can be extremely difficult to stop.
Severe OCD in children or adolescents can make them violent and angry due to extremely time-consuming and disruptive everyday life.
Suicide: A severe effect of mental illness
Suicide is among the leading cause of death worldwide. Most psychologists and psychiatrists believe that suicide is not a coarse rather a result of prolonged mental disorders.
Mental health patients who suffer from PTSD, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety are at a high risk of having suicidal thoughts or tendencies if no medical help is provided.
Contrary to popular belief suicide can be prevented. To prevent suicide attempts we need to be more aware of the science of all the mental issues a person is going through. When a sign is visible, the patient must seek professional help.
However, there is a stigma attached to mental health illness. Hence multiple Government and non-government organisations have come up with suicide prevention helplines.
Suicide prevention mainly works with crisis situations with help of trained crisis counselors.
For long-term help, a person with mental health illness must visit a psychiatrist or psychologist for better counseling and treatment depending on the severity of their mental illness. There are many types of behavioural and speech therapy patients with tendencies.
Many ask what they can do to increase awareness as individuals. The first and foremost thing is to show kindness and empathy towards someone who is going through a tough time or is known for being sensitive. Such small acts of kindness can help a mental illness to open up and share their burden. This in turn can prevent a future suicide attempt.
World Health Organisation has also declared 10th September as the world suicide prevention day to help raise awareness through various campaigns around the globe.
There are also many suicide prevention helplines across globe and also in India by non-government organisations. The zero suicide Alliance is a health service trust based in the UK and beyond that helps people across the globe to prevent suicide and raise awareness.
Many Indian hospitals and non-government organisations also provide helpline numbers for crisis situations. Some such organisations are Aassra, Parivarthan, Cooj Mental Health Foundation, Sneha Foundation, etc.
Mental Health Issues Treatment
Taking preventive measures and providing good health care for mental illnesses are as important as breaking the stigma around mental health. The awareness needs to be spread that mental health illnesses are the same as any other illness and can be treated. People need to understand that with professional help most of the common illnesses like depression, anxiety can be completely cured. Also, severe illnesses like OCD, bi-polar disorder, and PTSD can at least be controlled so they do not make living daily normal life a struggle.
Self-help
One of the most effective preventive measures for mental health illness is self-care. No one will be able to notice the signs of mental illness issues than a person who is already aware of the early signs. Self-care methods can prevent and control mental health illnesses at early stages. Taking care of your own mind should be your first priority even when you are going through difficult times. It is of utmost importance to know how to take care of their mind.
There are many self-care mental exercises you can practice to train your mind towards positivity and mindfulness. Some of the most common mental health self-care techniques are exercise, meditation, actively manifesting positive thoughts, etc. These work pretty well for most people with or without mental health illness. Also, writing daily journals is another useful method of letting go of all thoughts and lets the mind relax.
Deep slow breathing, using all 5 senses to stay in the moment, training your mind towards active positive thinking, analyzing your dark thoughts, and actively trying to find the sources are a few of the most recommended self-help in therapy.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy is one of the lesser used psychological therapies. It mainly focuses on the whole “dynamic” of a patient’s mental health. It takes a holistic approach towards the wellbeing of a patient’s mind.
The core principle behind this therapy is to help the patients understand their own mindset and gain insight from their own behavioral development. This therapy deals with the patient’s emotions, thoughts, life experience, and belief system. Psychodynamic therapy mainly depends on the fundamental question of “how does this make you feel?”
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
Interpersonal therapy was mainly developed keeping depression as its main focus. However, later on, it was developed more to be able to include other mental illnesses. IPT is mainly a very focused and evidence based treatment for any mental disorder that is associated with mood disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse, and drug disorders.
This therapy is also widely used for interpersonal conflicts, grief, life transitional conflicts, relational disputes, etc. This treatment usually lasts for 12 to 16 weeks and is homework driven continuous assessment based therapy. A journal published in 2004 discussed interpersonal therapy in detail.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is mainly used to treat cognitive distortion in patients. It is a type of speech therapy that deals with the cognitive distortion in the belief and thought process of the patient. The main goal is to help an individual understand the factual error in their thought process. CBT is extremely helpful in anxiety disorder, depression, PTSD, Bipolar disorder.
Cognitive distortions are mainly black and white thinking or extreme thinking where there is no logical middle ground, overgeneralizing one single issue and applying it to all, personalizing every problem and making it about yourself, catastrophizing a probably simpler issue by overthinking and making it more complex than it is in reality.
Cognitive behavioral therapy helps to correct these distortions in the thought process by analyzing a situation at hand, identifying the underlying problem, enabling rational thinking, and helping the patients to learn from these changes.
Supportive Therapies
Supporting therapy is the most basic psychological used by mental health professionals to address personality issues and character structures. The foundations of supporting therapy were developed by Freud in the late 19th century which mainly revolved around intrapsychic issues like personal ego. Currently, supportive therapy has now evolved to provide help for extra-psychic issues like abuse, poverty, discrimination, etc.
Supportive therapy mainly works to improve confidence, self-esteem, restore strength in the belief system, and build skills that help to reduce anxiety. This therapy does not have any time limit and is much less structured than other psychotherapeutic therapies.
Group Therapies Group therapies are mainly a type of talk therapy that allows a group of people with the same or similar mental illness to share their issues, emotions, feelings, etc. These therapies are mainly conducted in sessions under the guidance of one experienced person who is often a mental health professional.
Group therapies work wonderfully in uplifting the patient’s confidence and self-esteem. Often it has been observed that group therapies become the main support system for people who are going through difficult times.
Sometimes patients do not feel they are able to convey their issues to doctors as the mindset usually is that the doctor is not in their shoes. This is where group therapies become extremely useful. Being able to share your plea with people who have been there or are currently going through the same can make the patient more connected. Also talking to people who know exactly how it feels to be in that position can and does release the guilt or shame associated with mental health issues due to the lack of awareness.
Unfortunately, group therapies are not very common in India. However, there are many online platforms where anyone can sign up and talk to the community which can be as useful as offline group therapy sessions.
Psychiatric Treatment and Medication
We have discussed self-care techniques and other psychological treatments in detail. However, we need to keep in mind that mental health is real and mental health illnesses are real illnesses.
Like physical illnesses, mental illness also may need medical assistance and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Psychological therapies definitely help to progress in life. But if the issue is severe and has become chronic then it is always suggested to consult a psychiatrist.
Contrary to popular belief, visiting a psychiatrist does not mean the patient is “mad” or needs to be in an asylum. These are only negative taboos associated with mental health illness. Proper medication can help a person with the most severe illness to lead a very normal lifestyle. There are several types of medication for all kinds of mental illness and taking proper preventive measures can stop the issues from aggravating to the next level.
Conclusion
The bottom line is mental health is real and important. Maintaining the wellbeing of mental health is a necessity to survive in the tough world that we live in. We need more care and empathy. This is why mental health is important. The taboo surrounding mental health illnesses needs to be demolished and more and more awareness needs to be raised.
The more we talk about mental health and mental illnesses, the more they are normalized. And normalizing it will lead more people to seek help when in pain rather than hiding in the darkness of their mind.