The New Zealand Mental Health Foundation is running Mental Health Awareness Week this week. Although my practice doesn’t deal with the more severe mental health issues, let’s not forget that mental health, just like physical health, exists along a spectrum.
photo credit: Dawn Ashley
A major New Zealand Ministry of Health survey found that “46.6% of the population are predicted to meet diagnostic criteria for a disorder at some time in their lives, with 39.5% having already done so and 20.7% having a disorder in the past 12 months”. Despite living in a beautiful and relatively prosperous country, we are prone to suicide, depression, anxiety and substance abuse. The problem is getting worse, too: younger groups of people show a higher lifetime risk than older groups. Women are more at risk for mental disorders in general, and for anxiety, mood and eating disorders in particular, than men; men have higher rates of substance abuse. Maori have the highest risk, followed by Pacific people.
That’s the bad news. There’s plenty of good news too, though. The government has funded some good work by the Mental Health Foundation on raising awareness and acceptance of mental health issues, using celebrities for a series of TV ads, for example, in which the celebrities talked about their own experience with mental health. This is important not only because discrimination and stigma is hurtful and unhelpful for people struggling with mental health issues, but also because it encourages people to talk about the issues and seek help for themselves or their loved ones.
photo credit: kalandrakas
And the other good news is that help is increasingly available. We understand more now than ever before about effective ways to overcome mental health difficulties, and there are many fine people trained to use this understanding. Look for someone with a credible qualification who is a member of an organization that provides accountability and standards.
What about the future? I’d love to see an initiative like the one in India, where laypeople have been trained to treat depression and anxiety in order to meet the great need. I’d love to see emotional management and stress management techniques taught more widely in the community, especially to young people, who often need them most. There are some very effective and simple techniques which I teach to most of my clients. And… here I’m dreaming, but a man can dream, can’t he?… I’d like to see our society figure out why it is that our stress, depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicidality continue to grow generation by generation, and do something effective about it - treating the cause, not just the symptoms.
Take a moment now to think about someone you know who is anxious or depressed, and what you might do to encourage them. Often, knowing that someone cares is significant in itself.
Technorati Tags: mental health, discrimination, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, stress management, emotional management
The New Zealand Mental Health Foundation is running Mental Health Awareness Week this week. Although my practice doesn’t deal with the more severe mental health issues, let’s not forget that mental health, just like physical health, exists along a spectrum.
A major New Zealand Ministry of Health survey found that “46.6% of the population are predicted to meet diagnostic criteria for a disorder at some time in their lives, with 39.5% having already done so and 20.7% having a disorder in the past 12 months”. Despite living in a beautiful and relatively prosperous country, we are prone to suicide, depression, anxiety and substance abuse. The problem is getting worse, too: younger groups of people show a higher lifetime risk than older groups. Women are more at risk for mental disorders in general, and for anxiety, mood and eating disorders in particular, than men; men have higher rates of substance abuse. Maori have the highest risk, followed by Pacific people.
That’s the bad news. There’s plenty of good news too, though. The government has funded some good work by the Mental Health Foundation on raising awareness and acceptance of mental health issues, using celebrities for a series of TV ads, for example, in which the celebrities talked about their own experience with mental health. This is important not only because discrimination and stigma is hurtful and unhelpful for people struggling with mental health issues, but also because it encourages people to talk about the issues and seek help for themselves or their loved ones.
And the other good news is that help is increasingly available. We understand more now than ever before about effective ways to overcome mental health difficulties, and there are many fine people trained to use this understanding. Look for someone with a credible qualification who is a member of an organization that provides accountability and standards.
What about the future? I’d love to see an initiative like the one in India, where laypeople have been trained to treat depression and anxiety in order to meet the great need. I’d love to see emotional management and stress management techniques taught more widely in the community, especially to young people, who often need them most. There are some very effective and simple techniques which I teach to most of my clients. And… here I’m dreaming, but a man can dream, can’t he?… I’d like to see our society figure out why it is that our stress, depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicidality continue to grow generation by generation, and do something effective about it - treating the cause, not just the symptoms.
Take a moment now to think about someone you know who is anxious or depressed, and what you might do to encourage them. Often, knowing that someone cares is significant in itself.
Technorati Tags: mental health, discrimination, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, stress management, emotional management