Written by : Kausalyah A/P
Samanthan
The World Federation for Mental Health is focusing
on Young People and Mental Health Issues in a Changing World towards a healthy
and positive mindset. Addressing youth mental health issues is one of the most
crucial challenges facing our community today. According to the World Health
Organization the data, mental disorders are the most common cause of issues in the
younger generation. If the issue has been left untreated, mental disorders can
obstruct all aspects of health, including emotional well-being and social
development, leaving young people feeling socially isolated, and stressful
family environments such as harsh discipline, a significant loss like parental
death. Worldwide, the increase of those youth who suffer from mental health
issues has risen by an approximated figure of 10 million. There is more of a
general understanding of the challenges that youth people face in everyday
life and the implications of these challenges are well documented in youth’s
mental health statistics. If we are able to find solutions at an early stage,
it may lead to a reduction in emotional and behavioral problems among youth.
It can also lead to improvements in social, learning outcomes, healthy mindset, and quality of life.
Challenges approach us every day in the life in
different ways. It is important to remember that these challenges do not
mean the world is ending because Where There is A Way Will There is A Way.
Living a healthy lifestyle helps keep your mind balanced where it actually
deals well with our mental health issues. During the teenage years, things are
steadily changing, and we are steadily developing through physically and
mentally. We are becoming more independent as we are growing. It is our responsibility
to make sure of what we are doing and what decisions we are taking in our life.
We need an adequate amount of sleep. A regular human needs 6 to 8 hours of
sleep. This is because our brain needs rest for the process of information that
we gather on a particular day. Researchers concluded that sleep has links to
several brain functions where concentration, productivity and cognition. A study
in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry showed that youth’s sleep patterns can have a
direct impact on their behavior and academic performance.
Another good way to reduce mental health issues
among youth is spreading awareness on reducing stigma. Stigma is a type of
negative vibration where it surrounds our teenage world. In order to reduce or
delete the stigma, we need to increase the awareness in the thick of teenagers.
One way to do this is by starting or joining a mental health club which has
been organized by our school campus or society. Joining a club of that nature,
or even starting our own club with some friends, is a great step forward in
reducing the stigma that surrounds mental health. It is also important to call
others by their given name, or the name they have clearly stated they would
like to be called. Labelling and branding is a common form of stigma among
teens which they think is a funny thing but it causes hurt and pain for the
respective people. Names such as psycho, crazy, and retarded are labelling
names that people used to call. Everyone should be treated equally with respect
and dignity.
Moreover,
physical activity has been proven to
be a great way to release stress. We also need an adequate amount of exercise
to boost our self-esteem and be able to distract our mind from negative
vibration. It helps us feel better inside and out. Good nutrition has helped us
to boost our brain and memory such as blueberries where it improves
communication between brain cells and broccoli has a higher vitamin K intake to better memory. When dealing with mental health issues, another
better way could be we should learn on how to deal stress by ourselves. We can
write a journal or we can read motivational books to keep ourselves positive
and we are able to feel inspired and motivated again. Other than that ,we stay
busy, so that our mind is distracted from the fixations we have on the
negativity that exists in our daily life. We also can set goals to cheer
up ourselves. Setting goals always brings us a sense of capability, and our mentality
desperately needs that positivity.
Asking for help when dealing with a mental health
issue is a sign of strength and not a weakness. It takes so much attempt and
courage to step forward and accept that we may not be able to handle our
challenges that we are facing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking
someone for help and might we get a better solution for our problem. Sometimes,
we youth people are afraid to speak up. We might think we are disturbing others
or becoming a burden for others. We fear that people will think we are weak
because we cannot handle everything by ourselves. Avoiding alcohol, cigarettes and drugs could be one of the way to reduce
mental health issue among youth. Alcohol and other drugs can improve our mood
for a short moment, but they are possible to make feel much worse in the long
term, especially when we are already surviving with mental health issues. There’s
also evidence that consuming alcohol increases the risk of
developing mental health problems and
makes self-harm. Sometimes people use
alcohol and other drugs to "self-medicate" but in reality, it causes
aggravate problems where it could be an addiction in the future.
Surrounding
ourselves with good people is one of the most important factors to reduce
mental health issues among youth because it is a type of vibration which
will have an enormous impact on our mental health. We should make sure the
people around us are supportive, positive, and good for you. Being around the
wrong people can contribute to mental illness and also invite additional
problems into your life. We can spend our quality time with our family members
with good activities such as having a picnic or having meals together. We should
also learn to smile every day since it comes with some real-life benefits. When we smile, our
brain releases tiny
molecules called neuropeptides to aid fight off stress. One research even recommends that smiling can help us
recover faster from mental health issues and reduce our heart rate. In fact, it
might even be worth a fake smile coming from us. There’s been some evidence that
forcing a smile can still bring you a boost in your mood and happiness
level.
We
should accept how we are and we need to believe that we have power to deal with
any challenges .Phrases like“ I can lead my life.” “I am intelligent.” “I am
exclusive.” “I have a purpose!” ,telling ourselves these affirmations every day
is the best reminder that we have the possibility and power to deal with our
mental health issues. We all possess incredibly positive qualities. They should
not be overlooked. They should be constant reminders that we can overcome and
that positive outcomes are possible. We are able to boost up our confidence
level and even we can provide support for ourselves. Positive vibration should
come from us first and we should believe that we are capable of facing a lot of
obstacles in our life. It took a little bit of determination, but a mental
health issue would not defeat us to achieve success in our life.
Leading
a positive life can be contagious. Dealing with a mental health issue can be
extremely overwhelming. Bringing positive vibes with us is a great way to boost
our mood. Positivity is a route to finding hope and seeing the light in every
situation, or at the end of the tunnel. Take away anything that feels doesn’t
fit our lifestyle. We should come out from the dark phase and just let go of
all the negative vibrations that trapped us. Just remember to do everything
with purpose, love, and care. We even can just walk out from our home to get the
presence of nature and enjoy 15 minutes of sunshine. When our skin is exposed to sunlight, it makes
vitamin D from cholesterol. The sun’s ultraviolet B (UVB) rays hit cholesterol
in the skin cells, providing the energy for vitamin D synthesis to occur. Sunlight synthesizes Vitamin D, which experts
believe is a mood elevator.
We can conclude that the path to teen depression can be varied and complicated. We can’t simply apply a formula and expect everything to turn out well. “Youths are not machines.” That means that we must treat them as individuals and recognize their unique skills and challenges, while providing the kinds of support they need to thrive, whatever challenges they face. In that way, we not only help teens to avoid problems like depression, we help shape a positive future for them and for society.
