World Mental Health Day is celebrated to create awareness among people about mental health issues like depression, anxiety and other mental illness. The day is celebrated on October 10 to advocate against social stigma on mental health issues.
People take mental health very lightly and often ignore anxiety and anger issues. Thus, it has become very necessary to educate and aware the masses about mental health and encourage them to talk about the topic.
According to WHO’s recent report, India is the most depressed country in the world. The report suggests that one in seven people from India have suffered from mental illness such as depression and anxiety from 1990 and 2017. It is an alarming situation for the country to secure the future of upcoming generations.
Mental Illness is still a taboo in Indian society and people hesitates to talk on such topic as they are afraid that they might face discrimination because of it. There is also a very low number of health professionals to deal with mental health issues in India and has been suffering from chronic underfunding. Thus, it has become very important to invest in mental health programmes not only in India, but across the globe.
The theme of the World Mental Health Day 2020 is related to the need for investment in mental health. According to the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), the World Mental Health Day theme in 2020 is “Mental Health for All: Greater Investment – Greater Access.”
Mental health issues can arise from depression, stress, loneliness, anxiety, death of loved ones, mood disorders and various other mental illnesses. The best way to cure mental illness is therapy, counselling, and medication. Sometimes, only listening to someone’s problems without judging them might result as a therapy to reduce their stress. Being judged by the society is one the darkest fear that a person suffering from a mental illness feels.
World Mental Health Day was started in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health. WFMH is a global mental health organisation having members in more than 150 countries.