Times Of Swaziland: MENTAL HEALTH: THE CONTINUED PUSH FOR AWARENESS

MENTAL HEALTH: THE CONTINUED PUSH FOR AWARENESS
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Runsford Laryea on 16/04/2024 08:04:00


As advocates for and proposers of mental health, our concerted efforts and
dedication continue to circle around making sure every individual is not only
aware of the psychological dimension of their being but also they may have the
required mental and psycho-emotional skills to maintain a steadily functional
day to day life for the benefit of themselves and their loved ones.
Achieving
In achieving this end, wide strides have been made and even though it could be
brighter, the light that shows the message is getting across is flickering. More
and more people within our families, communities as well as on a countrywide
scale are being more considerate of the forms of counselling and therapy to help
them cope with the ‘feral beast’ that life is sometimes. Even many more
(people) are actually following through with this consideration and are actually
attending therapy sessions and getting help. On a personal level and in my
capacity as a mental health enthusiast, this is not only encouraging to see, it
also bodes fairly well for the future psychological prognosis of our country as
a whole.
Relevant
Unfortunately, while we rave about the positives, it is equally relevant to
consider the so-called drawbacks in spreading the ‘mental health word’. In
the main, there are still sections of our population that hold the belief that
something like therapy ‘is not for them’ and would basically never agree to
‘speaking to a stranger’ about their personal issues. It turns out this is
quite a popular opinion because some people feel the whole nature of going for
counselling or seeking therapy may be a little too invasive. Of course, every
one holds entitlement to whom they choose to share their personal stories with,
however, this speaks to the broader perception of what therapy looks like and
the work that still needs to be done to deconstruct the false image of what
seeking help means and looks like. The appeal in seeking assistance for mental
health issues often gets lost in half-cooked opinions that other people may have
of it and, as is often the case, these spread quicker than the actual facts.
Overtime, this has proven to be a hindrance as many people have opted to make
dramatic life decisions instead of seeing a psychologist, while others choose to
hide their need for professional mental health attention in fear of being
marginalised by their families, for instance.
Professional
Therefore, as already alluded to, there is still a need for a total
deconstruction of what exists as mental health and seeking professional
psychological help in the minds of people in our society. It is from a change in
that, that more and more people can begin to alter their thoughts of what mental
health itself constitutes, how it relates to them on a day to day basis as well
how they can be actively be involved in monitoring and nurturing their own
psychological well-being. The rise to prominence of mental health disorders
resulting in suicides over the years are not the only cause for concern from a
psychosocial perspective; issues like gender-based violence, violence and some
of the inexplicable murders we read about are all tied to the human beings’
psychology, whether as an individual or in groups.
This seems reason enough to fight hard to ensure that our people are well
equipped with knowledge about the behaviours and ways of thinking of others as
well as of their own. Holistically, this would contribute greatly to the overall
wellness of the people in our families and in around our communities, thus
breeding more pleasant living environments. Send comments to
runsford0505@gmail.com.