Prevention of Mental Illness

 In order to discern how to prevent mental illnesses, we need to know what is mental health and what is mental illness. In our society mental facet of fitness is least regarded. Physically fit seeming individuals are assumed to be healthy in every aspect, whereas in reality, the same individuals might be enduring a lot mentally. We must look at both aspects of fitness to consider someone to be completely healthy that is mental and physical. No doubt healthy body is a residence to a healthy mind but there are always exceptions to the statement.

What is mental health?

Mental health is emotional, psychological and social well-being which determines how we think, speak, behave, handle situations and make choices.

What is mental illness?

Mental illness (disturbance of mental health) is a health condition in which wellbeing of mental state is highly disturbed due to which productiveness of person might be reduced largely and may associate problems in work, family and social environment. One may suffer from mental illness due to these reasons

• Biological factors, such as genetic makeup or brain chemistry

• Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse

• Family history of mental health problems

What happens due to mental illness?

A person becomes mentally disable and falls into helplessness deeper and deeper day by day. They start having problems in their family, friends and work. They become detached from society. The people around them start seeing them differently. Fewer people want to deal with them. Hence the patient becomes lonelier and gets confined in their own zone.

Why should mental illness be prevented?

About 450 million people suffer from mental and behavioural disorders worldwide. One person in four will develop one or more of these disorders during their lifetime. Neuropsychiatric conditions account for 13% of the total Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost due to all diseases and injuries in the world and are estimated to increase to 15% by the year 2020. Five of the ten leading causes of disability and premature death worldwide are psychiatric conditions. Mental disorders represent not only an immense psychological, social and economic burden to society, but also increase the risk of physical illnesses. Given the current limitations in the effectiveness of treatment modalities for decreasing disability due to mental and behavioural disorders, the only sustainable method for reducing the burden caused by these disorders is prevention.

How to prevent mental illness?

As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. There are publicized strategies targeted at specific conditions and for awareness of the public.

• Awareness:-We can only prevent something if we know about it . The government should run awareness programs regarding mental health and let people know how important it is to maintain mental health for maximum productivity and healthy being
• Eat specific food:-It was found that people who ate taste appealing food were found to be healthy mentally and the ones who ate fish in large amount were found to be even happier and stable.
• Counselling people who have chronic diseases

Mental and physical health is unavoidably linked with each other well-known for mental illness is physical illness. According to NICE, it was found that 20% of people who suffer from chronic diseases suffer from depression. These people must be counselled by their doctors and make them feel alright about themselves.

• Stay away from toxic people:-Sometimes people can be toxic to our mental health. Their actions, sayings and thoughts might be too harsh for our brains and we might tend to overthink and run those situations in our head lot of times. In that case, it is best for us that we stay away from them whether they are our friends or relatives.

• Proper routine:-If one follows their daily routine religiously such as eat healthy, do regular exercise and sleep sufficiently. If you’re not able to sleep or have questions regarding diet and physical exercise then you should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

• Yoga:-Yoga is known to have a very good reputation since ages for proving the practicer to have good physical and mental health. Meditation is one of the best methods to avoid mental illness.

• Pay attention to symptoms:- Mental illness may start at a smaller scale and then grow to be a bigger problem. if we start to notice symptom’s then we must consider seeing a therapist who can control the illness at the early stage and hence prevent bigger suffering

• Get help when you need it. We fear that society will judge us for our condition, and often the society calls the patient “lunatic”. Our society needs to be taught well about mental health and we must not fear the society and not get the aid that we want. Mental health conditions can be harder to treat if you wait until symptoms get worse. Long-term maintenance treatment also may help prevent a relapse of symptoms.