For over thirty years, The World Federation for Mental Health has sponsored an annual awareness campaign called World Mental Health Day. The first World Mental Health Day was observed on October 10th 1992. Now the day is officially commemorated each year on October 10. According to The World Federation for Mental Health website- “the aim [of the day] is to raise awareness in the global community about the critical mental health agendas – with a unifying voice through collaboration with various partners – to take action and to create lasting change.” In 1994 the organization introduced themes for each year’s campaign. The theme for 2023 is ‘Mental health is a universal human right’.
Awareness and Treatment are Human Rights
Across the globe, wherever and whoever you are, every human has certain inherent rights just for existing. On World Mental Health Day this year, the theme of all human beings having access to resources, freedom from stigma, and the ability to obtain the highest possible attainable mental health, is being advocated. It is a wonder the prevalence and seriousness of mental health illness, and its impact on nearly every person whether personally, or through knowing a family member or friend, would need such a day. But data gathered from across the planet, especially post-COVID pandemic, shows the urgency in addressing mental health on a wider scale.
Mental Health Illness versus Mental Health Issues
While celebrating World Mental Health Day, it is important to note the difference between mental health illness and conditions. Most of us experience periodic or episodic seasons of mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, or malaise. Additionally, our mental health condition usually describes how we feel overall socially, as well as psychologically. Whereas, a mental health illness is diagnosed by a professional and there are certain guidelines and criteria widely accepted to denote that ailment. Mental health illnesses impact a person’s ability to cope, affect how they interact with others, their job prospects, and other areas of functioning in their life. Indeed, having mental health challenges significantly impact everyday life as well as their mortality.
What’s at Stake
Universally, mental health conditions are on the rise. Depression is one of the leading causes of disability. Moreover, it is estimated that the pandemic caused a 25 to 27 percent increase in the prevalence of depression and anxiety worldwide. Suicide is a leading cause of death among older teens. Persons with severe mental illness do not live as long as those who do have mental health diagnoses. Also being brought to the forefront for attention on World Mental Health Day, is the healthcare crisis and lack of resources people suffering from mental health conditions face each day. It’s easy to imagine the toll this amount of suffering has on families, communities, and the planet as a whole.
How We Can Help
In addition to contributing traditionally by making a financial contribution to The World Federation for Mental Health, The World Health Organization, or your local area mental health and advocacy agencies, each of us can start at home, today, with ourselves! World Mental Health Day is meant to encourage each of us to acknowledge mental health with more compassion, curiosity, and less judgment and fear. Furthermore, wherever possible to support programs that provide treatment, food, clothing, and shelter for those facing these conditions. Along with paying attention to legislation that promotes strengthening mental health treatment as a basic human right. Equally important, there are a number of ways we can improve discussion and awareness about mental health issues in our own families and communities.
🗣️Speak Up!
To support World Mental Health Day every day you can look for opportunities to de-stigmatize discussions of symptoms or mentions of people who have mental health conditions. This can be done at work, school, or in social situations. Wherever possible, being brave enough to say if you have experienced any of the same of challenges can go a long way.
🕊️Heal Thy Self
To support World Mental Health Day every day we can take responsibility for our own healing. Although we may have been born with conditions or faced trauma that was not our fault, seeking help to face our conditions is solely up to us. Speaking to a professional counselor can be life-changing. It is one of the greatest acts of self-love to do the hard work of healing.
💪🏽Find Strength
To support World Mental Health Day every day we can search for ways to be more authentic, humble, and vulnerable. Just as it hardest day-one at the gym, flexing and building our emotional muscles is hard and building strength takes time. Imagine the ripple effects on society if each of us chose daily to be more intentional about interactions with others.
🧑🏾🤝🧑Get Community
To support World Mental Health Day every day notice when your community has events for mental health awareness campaigns. Consider donating time or money or volunteering. If you have a loved one who struggles with a mental health condition, research resources that are available to them. Find ways to support the programs.
🧘Meditate
To support World Mental Health Day every day take time for yourself. There is powerful data on the effects that meditating can have on individuals, as well as entire communities. Meditation doesn’t have to be time-consuming or even guided. It is helpful to the world as a whole if you develop a habit of sitting quietly, anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes per day with your eyes closed, relaxing your body, and gently quieting your brain.
❤️Positive Self Talk
To support World Mental Health Day every day we can practice speaking to ourselves the way we speak to others. Review your past week. How compassionate was your self-talk? There is value in looking in a mirror and telling yourself I love you. Kindness to ourselves cannot help but spill out into kindness and patience for others.
⚖️Seek Balance
To support World Mental Health Day every day we can strive for balance. We can do this by being gentle, but mindful, of what we eat, how much screen time we consume, our physical activity, how much we partake in negative talk about others, and many others aspects of our life. Doing this, along with healthy doses of forgiving ourselves can make a big impact on our overall mental outlook.
📚Read and Listen
To support World Mental Health Day every day we can read and listen to mental health books or podcasts. Doing so will boost programming, as well as teach us about ourselves. Learning to be self-aware is a never-ending process. Choosing to spend time on these types of activities will develop compassion, skills, and broaden our mindsets. This can’t help but affect ourselves, as well as those around us, more positively.
Being There for Each Other
There is no change without reflection. World Mental Health Day reminds us to reflect on our actions and take action on behalf of ourselves and others. If this is not something that has been a part of our lives prior, let’s not leave it to the social workers, crisis workers, counselors, and policymakers to figure it out! Improving the lives of our communities and nation begins with ourselves and our families. Individuals who suffer from mental health illness suffer an uphill battle sometimes daily. Tending to them, and our own mental health, is vital to improving the quality of life for everyone. As The World Federation for Mental Health website states: “World Mental Health Day celebrates awareness for the global community in an empathetic way, with a unifying voice, helping people feel hopeful by empowering them to take action and create lasting change.”