Protect it now, it costs more to fix it!!!
When the doctor told me (I was 15 at the time) that Daniel (a close friend of mine) might be suffering from a mental health issue known as mixed anxiety depressive disorder MADD. I opened my mouth in disbelief as the only word that rang in my head was the last word MADD for some reason the pronunciation MADD which sounded like MAD made me forget the aforementioned information, my brain has decided to process just one word and it was nothing but MADD. Knowing the doctor as at then to be quite jovial, Just to make sure we were on the same page, I asked him in disbelief "you joking right? " because if he was, it certainly wasn't funny there are lines that shouldn't be crossed. He said “I never joke with something like that" he replied as he looked at me frankly.
Daniel has definitely been showing signs of depression and anxiety which could be called antisocial behaviours but as at then my brain focused on just the world MADD, I said "just to be clear you saying my friend is MAD, like insanely MAD(I was so naive)" No" he replied “Im just saying he has a mental health issue that makes him feel like giving up on everything and anything, he feels nothing is worth it. Basically he is always sad even if he should have a reason to be happy and on regular basis, he will also get nervous and anxious when faced with a task as simple as interacting with other. It is a mental health issue not an insanity problem”. Even after the layman’s breakdown by the doctor, I still googled the whole MADD phenomenon (seriously thank God for google, it really is everyone's friend) for better understanding.
Now according to the world health organization, WHO 2004
Mental health is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to contribute to his or her own community
Obviously, Daniel was having a problem with everything stated to be a sound mental health.
A lot of people are living but as a matter of fact, they are hardly living. Your mental health literally determines who you are, what you are and how you would behave. In most cases, you are a reflection of your mental health.
We are now in an era where people know the importance of a sound mental health and they go the extra mile to protect it. But the truth is as much as people are aware of the need to protect their mental health, a lot of people are still unaware of the need to protect this aspect of their life
The mind controls the body, and like they say if you can think it, it can be done, you are what you think on a daily basis
From the above breakdown of what mental health is, it can be deduced that your mental health determines your personality type, a proper self-image which is a function of your mental health goes a long way in reinforcing your mental health. After all your mind is the source of your emotion, it determines the way you interact with others, your personality both psychologically and socially.
Mental illness
According to NIH (US) 2007
Mental illness is a health condition involving the changes in emotion, thinking or behaviour (or a combination of all three) of an individual that causes distress and difficulty in functioning (i.e social work or family activity)
Let's look at some common types of mental illness
- psychoses
- Dementia
- Personality disorders
- Eating disorder like anorexia, bulimia nervosa
- Mood disorders like depression, bipolar disorder and manic disorder
- Anxiety disorders like PTSD=post traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, general anxiety disorder known as GAD
Now, what are some likely causes of compromised mental health?
Expectation VS Reality (What I ordered and wanted vs what I got ☹️)
Let’s be frank here, we live in a cruel (strongly avoiding the urge to use accursed) world, a world where only the fittest survive, expectation and reality can be like two parallel lines that never meet and some people aren’t resilient enough to deal with it, they break like an elastic band that has finally reached its breakpoint. I guess being resilient is also an important skill to be mastered.
Quoting MJ (~Zindaya~ Spiderman from No way home )
Expect disappointment and you would never be disappointed (of course this is an unhealthy way to live your life and it is good to be optimistic and all, but sometimes expecting disappointment and learning to deal with it can prepare you for the worst and the worst can be a severe mental break down)
Yeah Yeah, it's good to dream big, oh my! it's so easy to dream big, but frankly and sometimes, reality sets in, and that reality can be brutal and sour causing lots of people significant stress and one of the devils of a compromised mental health is unhealthy stress(emphasis on unhealthy) my friend, avoid it at all cost.
Sometimes after being optimistic and all, you have to wake up to reality and understand that most times things never go as planned, don’t be caught unaware, prepare for that uncertainty and you would never break down, even if you do, you would easily bounce back up.
Social Media
I use social media a lot, in fact, I can hardly go a day without it, its a necessary evil and you know what it has come to stay, as much as I use it, I have learnt to protect my mental health by adhering to and living my life on one principle, as a matter of fact, this principle has been engraved into my mind “Don’t believe everything you see on social", for me 90% of the things on social media is a well-packaged lie sent out for delivery and someone peoples order those lies, pay for it, digest it, and finally recommend it to other and thus the vicious cycle continues
(I don’t care if it is far less than 90% as long as my mental health is not crying while social media is laughing, its my self-defence, my antivirus, just imagine a social media platform like Instagram). Instagram can make you think everyone is having a great day and you are the only one having the worst of the worst days in the whole wide world, that my friend is a perfect recipe for a mental breakdown, you need an antivirus.
Research has made it known that social media are responsible for aggravated mental health problems. So there you have it, presented to you naked and vulnerable, social media is an Angelic-devil, a full bouquet of good and evil, it is up to you to find an equilibrium and protect your mental health.
Sometimes to protect your mental health you have to just drop that angelic devil and focus on what you can see physically and not through an hypnotizing screen. Some people keep watching social even after falling into depression because of social media, sounds like using poison as an antidote for poison,a movie with a predictable bad ending.
Negative Peer influence
They say It's better to walk alone in the right direction than to walk with a crowd in the wrong direction
The pressure to conform, The pressure to live once hmm!!! depression is like a roaring lion seeking a peer that has allowed him or herself to be pressured only to devour, allow yourself to be pressured by peer pressure and depression walks like in like the lord of the house, pitch its stool at the centre of your thoughts and what comes next, a trailer to a mental breakdown.
In short, learn to say NO sometimes, don’t trade your integrity, dignity, principles and belief because of people that might really not matter in the next 10 years. A 1 second NO might just save you 10 years of mental health issues.
In conclusion, protect your mind at all cost for it will definitely cost more to get it fixed, that’s if it can be fixed
Thank for taking a step further to protect your mental health by reading this post, Sayonara✌️
References/Resources
Reference 1
Reference 2
Reference 3
Reference 4
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Another nice blog from you, if “nice” could be an appropriate word for the subject which you have chosen today. This topic is indeed a very important one, especially in this pandemic time where the mental health of everyone, and the youngest ones in particular, is put far down the line.
I don’t know whether you noticed, but I mentioned severe not funny issues ruling my life recently. All of these worries are strongly connected to mental health issues (however, not my mental health). It is a damned topic and not an easy one to grasp… (especially for someone like me who is not a psychologist).
Anyway, let's go back to your blog. There is one item of your list with which I don't 100% agree.
I think that the word “lie” is not the appropriate word to use here. I agree that everything that we find online is always well-packaged and is often shared in the purpose of trying to sell (or oversell) something (that could even be an idea). But calling it a lie is maybe going a bit too far, don’t you think?
As you said, this helps you to go through social medial in a mentally sane way, so that it is very fine to classify anything as potential lies. However, I say instead that on a more objective basis, calling everything lies is probably a bit exaggerated. What do you (objectively) think?
Let’s finish this comment with a funnier tone:
I would say: it should be everyone’s friend. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily the case… ;)
Have a good week!
@lemouth I really don't know how I managed to skip this comment a few days back, would have really loved to discuss more.
😀I don't disagree actually, I see your point and the perspective you coming from and it is quite clear . "potential lie" would be the most appropriate word here because, in more cases than one we have had false news become true and true news become false on social media, social media is a world where the truth and what everybody thinks is truth becomes a lie and a lie and what everybody thinks is a lie becomes the truth and vice-versa, its a world of potential lie and potential truth. In conclusion, to protect your mental health, see everything as a made-up story until proven otherwise by a really reliable source.
@lemouth your comment really shows that you read my post and you value quality posts, I really appreciate that sincerely and like you always say "cheers", cheers to more quality and brainstorming posts :).
No worry, there is no expiry date on my comments and you can answer them anytime (or even never if you don't want to ;) ).
To go back to the topic, the word "potential" definitely makes a big change, and I am more inline with the write-up in this way. It is clear that we always need to double-check, and even triple-check, anything that we find on social media. This is at least what I teach to my kids and repeat many times to students when they look for sources online.
Thank you for this feedback! I guess I will finish this comment with a good "cheers" ;)
Cheers!
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This is a helpful post. There are a lot of things going on in the world these days which can put our mental health out of balance. My first principle to staying sane is being contented, trusting in my capabilities and just focus on my set goal.
We'll all be fine though.
Yeah true, when you are contented, every other irrelevance would just be distraction and noise in the background, cheers :)
Exactly!