The incidence of Mental Health Issues (MHI) is common among children and senior citizens, but a large ratio of youth is also affected by MHI each year. Therefore, world mental health day began to celebrate as mental health issues have a drastic effect on the habits and relationships of affected patients. In 2019, a group of scientists in the UK designed a study to find the effect of mental health on youth behaviour. These studies showed that about 94% of people suffer from self-esteem issues among mental health patients. At the same time, the ratio of complexities in relation to friends and education was 84%. Further, the effect of mental disorders on employment was 17%. These statistics represent that among all behavioural issues, self-esteem of the patients suffering from mental health is at significant risk. A few important things you need to know about World Mental Health day 2021;
A Brief History Of World Mental Health Day
If you are a history lover, then the history of world mental health day will surely fascinate you. It can be given as follows;
- The World Federation of Mental Health first introduced the concept of celebrating mental health day worldwide. General Richard Hunter, a deputy secretary of the World Federation of Mental Health (WFMH), announced celebrating World mental health day on 10th October as an annual event.
- At first, celebrating World mental health day is giving awareness to people about the consequences of mental disorders.
- Initially, people celebrated mental health day without designing any theme. But as represented on 10th October 2021 every year, this event has a new theme.
- Every year the World Federation of Mental Health highlights a new issue related to mental issues. This helps control its incidences.
Not A One-Day Event
A majority of people think that the mental health day is the effort of a single day only to ensure healthy lifestyle. But this is not the reality. The World Federation of Mental Health team started working on preparing the theme about a month ago. The annual theme of 10th October seems appealing after long-term educational efforts of the concerned staff. Some countries celebrate mental health week. But others celebrate mental health month.
Purpose of Celebrating World Health Day
The overall aims and objectives of organising this event are as follows;
- To increase public awareness about mental health issues.
- To help the public in supporting mental health.
- It is an opportunity for WFMH members to tell people about their ongoing and upcoming events.
- This is an event to tell the public how they can support WFMH in reducing the increasing burden of suicidal cases worldwide.
- In this event, the higher authorities tell people how they will give them good mental health facilities.
- This event aims to tell people that they should never ignore their mental issues such as;
- Depression
- Schizophrenia
- Dementia
- Autism
- Anxiety Disorder
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Bipolar disorders
- Psychoses
Few Annual Themes Of World Health Day
The world health day themes vary annually. The central ideas of a few of them are given as follows;
- Mental health and suicidal prevention
- Mental health and senior citizens
- Depression is a global crisis
- Mental health and the workplace
- Impact of changing world on the mental health of youth
Last year the theme of mental health day was;
“Move for mental health; let’s invest.”
The themes of annual mental health aim to tell people how they can move from mental instability to a profound mental state.
World Mental Health Day (2021 Theme)
This year, WFMH came with an appealing idea of representing the outcomes of changing world conditions. These were related to mental health of different people. The focus of 10th October 2021’s ceremony was;
‘Mental health in an unequal world.’
This year, the concept of using the above theme was to highlight the unequal mental health facilities in different regions of the world.
Importance of Mental Health Campaign 2021
Research by a dissertation writing company shows that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the mental health cases have increased so much. According to a rough estimation, during Covid, 4 out of 10 people have become victims of depression and anxiety. This huge ratio shows disturbance in the mental state of new patients. It also shows the worsening of mental condition for existing patients. Yet according to WHO, there is happiness behind the current Covid situation.
Governments from all around the world gathered in the World Health Assembly in May 2021. They decided to raise the standards of mental health care to new heights. However, in the meeting, few countries decided to provide new mental health care aspects to their population.
By the 2021 Mental health care campaign, WFMH showcased its efforts in many countries to improve health care practices worldwide. In addition, they highlighted the motivational stories of their activities. This was done to impress the public.
In the final section of this campaign, WFMH distributed easy-to-read booklets among people. These booklets aimed explaining to people the following;
- How to take care of your mental health?
- What are the early diagnostic symptoms of mental health disturbances?
- From where can you get help in solving the complexities of mental health issues?
- How can you take care of your loved one’s mental health?
- How to pass this difficult time of pandemic without disturbing your mental peace?
Supporting material
Visit this link to get supporting material about the World mental health day 2021;
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/2021/campaign-materials
The titles of some supporting material include;
- Depression, what should you know?
- Wondering why your pregnancy and a new baby isn’t making you happy?
- Living with someone with depression?
- Worried that your child is depressed?
- Preventing depression during your teens and twenties.
- Preventing and treating depression as you get older.
- Do you feel like life is not worth living?
- Do you know someone who may be considering suicide?
After searching some questions mentioned above on the internet, you can get essence of the World Mental Health 2021 campaign.
