By Dr. Raphael Christopher

Medical disclaimer

The contents of this article are for information only. Do not rely on the content as a substitute for proper professional mental health medical advice, diagnosis, image interpretation or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a mental health condition. Never ever disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

The recent very sad and unfortunate death of The former Miss USA and Lawyer from high-functioning depression has brought into focus, yet again, society’s stigma around poor mental mental health. This stigma inhibits people in every profession and walk of life including lawyers from seeking appropriate help and due to not receiving help at appropriate time, many have sadly gone on to take their own lives or cause themselves and others needless injuries. This sad state of affairs ought not to be.

The reasons behind this are due to the fact that since ancient times, society has always feared whatever it did not understand. But, as advances in technology and knowledge made in the last few centuries, more light than ever has now been shed on this hitherto darkness of mental health. The advances have been the increase of knowledge of the mental world within us and therapies and medicines that help in ensuring good mental health

Whilst we are moving in the right direction however society is still losing many thousands of talented amazing people everyday due to poor mental health problems and our society is the poorer for their passing.

What can be done to arrest this trend? Many things can be done such as education, government programs, citizens keeping alert and good neighbourliness. But, am important thing to be done is to help society debunk the stigma that has dogged mental health discussions and its treatment for the past millenniums.

To understand better the mental health area and arena, let us look at where it is situated within the tapestry of the health galaxy.

So, what is health? Many definitions abound depending on what the author wishes to emphasise or de-emphasise according to their preferences.

I believe the definition given by the WHO ( World Health Organisation) is still far and away, the best definitions of health that encapsulates everything in the arena of health.

Health, according to The World Health Organisation is a state or condition of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity.

We can take away several points from the definition such as health is a state or condition. Also, health can be physical health, mental health, social well being. Further, health is more than just physical health because we tend to think in terms of health as the presence of disease or infirmity in our physical body.

Now, we get a closer and better understanding of where mental health is placed at. Without a doubt, many health matters are incredibly complex, intricately complicated and interlaced with so many interfaces that it requires a multi dimensional complex tool kit to interpret it accurately and treat appropriately. This is why the reader of this article should never rely on this article as a substitute for proper diagnosis and treatment by their doctor or a licensed medical professional.

Society as a whole have not appreciated the placement of mental health within the galaxy of health. Society has not appreciated the fact that health is health whether mental health or physical health or social health.

Not in the sense that they are the same, but in the sense that they all come under the same umbrella of health.

Society needs to understand that all health are to be treated appropriately. It is important for society to understand and treat mental health the way we treat normal illnesses – without any stigma, fear or negativity. No one would stigmatise a malaria patient therefore no one should stigmatise a person with poor mental health.

The WHO definition makes it clear that mental health is on par with physical health and in practice they complement and affect each other.

What then is mental health? I define Mental health as simply a state or condition of the human mind in the mental world. It is simply a state or condition in which a person’s mind is at, at any given point in time.

Mental health changes. It does not stay fixed. One minute a person may feel happy and the next minute they may feel sad. It does not mean that anything is necessarily wrong with them. Even so, stable and good mental health is the objective for every person to achieve.

Mental health is not fixed in stone. It changes and responds to external and internal stimulus. It is different for different people and at different stages in their lives for example teenagers takes more risks than perhaps an older person. One’s environment is also a big factor.

Each of us are unique so our mental health signatures are also different.

Mental health can be said to be a spectrum. We give positive or negative values to our mental health depending on what position we are on the mental health spectrum. The values we give can be bad or it can be good. Bad mental health is very distressing and painful and can worsens without treatment and can lead to loss of life eg depression. Good mental health can lead to peak performances and success in our lives and at work.

Whether it is good or bad depends on the person and their interpretation they give or failing which, society gives them.

The culture and the context in which the person mental health is situated happens is a key determinant as to what is going on with their mental health.

Just as we have the physical world, so also we have the mental world. The difficulties primarily in mental health lies in the fact that the mental world is invisible and cannot be seen with the eyes, therefore, someone with not so good mental health will not exhibit symptoms like a sufferer of a physical disease may do.

However, we know that the mental world is more powerful than the physical world due to the power of the human will. We see this exhibited in statistics. That a person would go to the extent of killing themselves by overriding the human instinct of self preservation demonstrates the truth of the power of the human will.

What is generally considered to be good mental health? Again it depends on the person but generally it is widely accepted that good mental health is a state or condition of mind where you are able to think, speak, feel and respond how you wish to and which validates you and how you wish to live your life.

Things that help to foster good mental health are many such as talking about and talking through your feelings and emotions with a person you can trust. Doing something you are good at and you enjoy, accepting yourself – your good points and your not so good points; Keeping active and regular exercises – even regular walks is good for you. Eating well and ensuring you get the right nutrients into you. Sensible drinking and drinking more water daily.

To drill down further, poor mental health is a state or condition of mind where you find it very difficult to cope with the ways you are now feeling, thinking or responding to the extent you find them extremely distressing and impossible to cope with. An example os depression, anxieties and panic attacks.

The causes of poor mental health are numerous such as severe stress, long term stress, bereavement, grief, childhood abuse, domestic violence, bullying, head injuries , loneliness, poverty, debt, physical illness, trauma, rape, cruelty, times of the year ie SAD, homelessness, drugs and alcohol abuse and misuses and many more such

When someone experiences this continually over a long period of time to the extent that they are unable to function properly, it is advised that they speak to someone about it and if it worsens they should consult their doctor or seek the services of a licensed mental health practitioner.

Self help and self diagnosis is not recommended until you are able to understand fully what is wrong with your mental health and understand what is needed to restore you back to your good mental health.

We all need to bear in mind that just as having a physical sickness does not make anyone any less valuable and respected member of the human race, so also having illness of the mind should not make anyone any less valuable and respected member of the human race. If all of us in society adopts this view, we shall all benefit because everyone who has mental health issues would be encouraged to seek help just as any person with a physical illness will do.

Therefore, to debunk the stigma around mental health, society needs to allow mental health to be discussed as freely and openly as physical health and not judge or stigmatise any person who says they have poor mental health. Rather, let us all reach out to them and help them rather than be afraid of them for poor mental health is not catching or infectious in the same way as Covid is.

People should not be afraid when they are faced with poor mental health and should be encouraged to seek appropriate treatment easily as they would for malaria fever.

I am saying is that by talking openly about mental health, many more people will be encouraged to understand that mental health is the same as physical health and it is very much ok to speak about what they are going through and they will be listened to and heard and there is help and there is support available.

If we all do so, we shall help millions and millions of people improve their mental health and save countless lives.

Isn’t that worth it?