Mental Health in today’s world
When we meet someone after a long time, or when we have to greet somebody, or simply strike a conversation, we do it with a simple
“How are you?” or “How do you do?”
Well, most of us do it that way.
And the standard reply would be I’m fine. At least that is how we are habituated to respond. But do we really mean that? Most of the times that isn’t true.
And when someone asks you about your health does it only mean about the physical health?
We probably are so used to the cliche that we hardly give it a second thought. It is always assumed that health is something that relates to a person’s physical well-being, when that actually isn’t the case. People often miss out on the fact that mental health is equally important and how it can affect a person.
No matter how fit a person is, if he is mentally distressed, then he surely isn’t in a good health. Of what use is a healthy body if your mind is depressed?
It’s really sad to know that 1 out of every 5 people suffer from mental problems and half of them are young adults. The stress, pressure and problems they encounter can all too easily seem overwhelming.
For many of them, these and other pressures can lead to one or more of a variety of mental health disorders; all being matters of concern, and some even life-threatening.
The world is now at Millennials’ fingertips, but at the same time they also feel its immense weight. Today everything is so fast-paced and competitive. Whatever we want, we get it done within a jiffy. The sense of immediacy has taken over our minds. The thought that everything has to happen right away, has made its way into everybody’s minds. There’s an unwanted pressure that constantly pushes us.
Something that makes us want to stand out of the ordinary. The desire to look and sound perfect, and act like you have it all together.
But you don’t.
All of which gradually lead to low self-esteem and insecurities. The younger generation are experiencing a much higher risk for mental health issues than previous generations. Levels of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts are becoming problematically high for today’s teens.
This younger generation might feel additional pressure to reach higher social standing. High personal standards and excessively important self-evaluations are inflicting people. They struggle with the sort of temperament that negatively affects their psychological state.
A recent study found that millennials really suffer from multiple types of temperament as well as high ambitions, social pressure, and high expectations of others.
The current generation of teens and school students are handling additional of those pressures than previous generations. They need progressively unreal education and have expectations from themselves that causes them to feel depressed and anxious after they don’t attain their goals.
Social media also has its part to play in instigating feelings of aggressiveness and anxiety that cause psychological state problems.
This probably is one of the reasons for the ever increasing mental illness among the younger generation. Out of the many mental problems faced, some of the most common and detrimental ones are anxiety and depression.
Chuck Palahniuk stated –
Our generation has had no great depression, no great war. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.
Couldn’t agree more.
We truly are very fortunate to be living in a generation where we don’t have to live under someone’s dictatorship or in a fear of war or destruction. Everything is made easy and comfortable for us. All of it seems really amazing and makes it hard to believe that life was not the same a few years ago.
But we create our own problems and mind takes the credit for it. The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. It’s really sad that the cases of depression have shot up like never before and there are even kids suffering.
People nowadays seem to be happy but they are not. Most of them simply carry a fake smile and move on as they feel it to be a better option rather than expressing themselves to anyone.
Not every disability is visible and it’s not always easy to identify someone suffering from any such mental illnesses. People don’t open up many times and that leads to the piling up of the emotions which in turn increases the trauma.
But it is good to know that there is awareness being created and mental health is being discussed. It is no longer a taboo as it once was.
Celebrities like Brad Pitt, J K Rowling and Deepika Padukone have all been through it. Deepika Padukone took a step ahead and established a centre for mental health.
This was what she said-
I thought it was stress, so I tried to distract myself by focusing on work, and surrounding myself with people, which helped for a while. But the nagging feeling didn’t go away. My breath was shallow, I suffered from lack of concentration and I broke down often.
Mental health is gradually gaining recognition and the stigma around it is slowly vanishing. It is no longer a subject for jokes or a topic to be ashamed of anymore.
“You say you’re ‘depressed’ — all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective — it just means you’re human.”
David Mitchell was not wrong when he said this. But when that feeling persists for a longer period, that is when you should be watchful. So the next time you think about health, keep in mind that it doesn’t only regard to something physical.
A healthy mind breeds a healthy body after all!
