Get a Healthy Mind (Not Just Body): Mental Health Fitness

Mental Health Month in the May month of the year is one opportunity for citizens to keep tab on the progress of their individual and overall nation’s mental health. There are ‘n’ number of situations in life that we have no control over, including those which either bring expensive gifts or expensive troubles to your psychological well-being. This forces in the necessity to optimize your level of equanimity to face unexpected and grave circumstances of your life.

Licensed clinical professional counselor and registered dietitian, Holly Alastra, author of Beyond My Body, has jotted down 7 tips to maintain optimum mental health.

1. Admit your problems and help yourself:

Pessimism and stress go hand in hand. The biggest problem people have is that they don’t accept they have a problem. You may shun counseling, for example, and roof your depressive thoughts all your life; but, you’ll never succeed them. Exclude negativity using self-help measures such as podcasts, readings, DVDs, and meditations that help to ward off negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones.

2. Don’t shy away from counseling:

Visiting a counselor’s office may not necessarily give you a negative label; in fact, it will portray yourself as a responsible individual in your own eyes. People sometimes may undertake a therapy to promote from good to better and better to best rather than thinking they’re going from bad to good. Take the courage to reevaluate your role in specific problems you are going through.

3. Avoid self-medication:

Substance use is “the” factor in the lives of people who struggle with severe mental health issues. Their false tendency to self-medicate with the view that substance use (read abuse) could help diminish the symptoms have put them into more trouble.

4. Create a social circle:

Isolation, which is often practiced by mentally affected individuals, can worsen the case. Learn to appreciate the people around and you will receive much more in return. Developing close relationships is a tested method to follow to tackle mental problems.

5. Move your body by exercising:

Exercise is not just needed to stay physically fit, but also mentally sound. Given the stats, only a handful of people in the country actually satisfy their body’s need of physical activeness. And, this month also being the National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, it would be great if you take the opportunity served on your plate to feel content, energized, and happy.

6. Let your life imbibe “meaning”:

When you move away from “receiving” just for yourself and think on ways for “giving” it back to the community in more abundant measures, you will reach the state of contentment and inexpressible joy further enhancing the quality of your mental health. This is what it means to give meaning to your life.

7. Feed your brain too:

It’s no rocket science that your brain needs those vital nutrients as much as your entire body. Eating well and maintaining a balanced diet will help you to become sure-footed to avoid mood swings and debar energy level fluctuations throughout the day.

Depression on Rampage in “Young” India

Another reason why you need to stay fit up there (in your brain) is because depression has come under the radar for being the reason for world’s highest suicidal death rate among the youth in India. Some bravely come up to speak about the ugliest mental disease of their lives while others get silently killed by it. If it wasn’t for Deepika Padukone’s open confession about depression, it wouldn’t have caught many eyeballs in the nation. Sadly, in our country, only those aspects which hold a media “hype” get attended to, whether or not they are serious.

Here are some shocking stats for you:

• Depression induced suicide rate: 36 per 1,00,000 Indians aging 15-29 yrs
• Availability of psychiatrists: 1 per 3,00,000+ Indians vs 59 per 3,00,000+ English
• Health budget percentage: 0.06% (India) vs 10.82% (England)

Nevertheless, although depression may soon become the No.1 reason for early (young) deaths in India if under-treated, the government should be appreciated for taking some strides towards demolishing the illness.

Smart Approach Towards Depression with SMART and ASHA

Government’s National Rural Health Mission has launched a community-based scheme named Systematic Medical Appraisal, Referral and Treatment (SMART) which helps to diagnose and treat mentally ill patients with the help of advanced gadgets like smartphones or tablets. Initially tried and tested in rural and remote Australia for handling cardiovascular diseases, SMART is aptly named and smartly piloted in rural India, as suicide rates are presumed to be higher there than in urban India.

The practical approach trains villagers educated to grade 8 or higher as Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to perform systematized tests, mental illness awareness programs, and marketing using pamphlets to help curb the “mental killer” in the country. After uploading the data using the equipment provided, nearest ASHAs get instructions from doctors (who conduct preliminary analysis based on the data received) and check whether or not the patient is willing to accept the information. Complicated or urgent diagnostic cases are handled by the visiting physician.

ASHAs are compensated for their work while primary care is made cost-free. Limitations to this project include lack of doctors and proper infrastructure. Besides, the primary doctors are over-burdened with the responsibility of attending up to 300 patients each day.

Having mentioned that, ASHAs are still bringing hope to many depressed lives. But, the question that arises is if a community-based project can take such innovative steps to get positive results in quick time then why can’t the whole nation?