A Balanced Life: Mental and Physical Health

November 10, 2018

The battle for a balanced life, the fight for a balanced mental and physical health, and the fight to understand one’s self and psyche….How can one take care of themselves in this stressful day and age? Mental health issues have plagued the human race since the beginning of time, yet it has always been an issue that has been shied away from. The rise of social media has given people a platform to express their thoughts and experiences with mental health. However a conversation needs to lead to action, so the people affected by these issues can get the care that they need.

The Washington Post reports that suicide rates have risen in all but one state from 1999 to 2016. Suicide is not just a mental health problem, rather it has morphed into a public health problem because of the wide variety of mental health problems such as ADHD, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, and dementia, to name a few. The lack of ability to deal with mental health issues because of the lack of understanding and access for proper care has perpetuated the predicament of mental health.

Myths about mental health continue to persist and the stigmas around it continue the cycle of the lack of ability to deal with it and proper care. According to a press release published by the World Health Organization (WHO) from October 4th, 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland, twenty-five percent of people around the world will experience some type of mental or neurological disorder during their lifetime. It is a universal issue that affects everyone.

“I have seen lots of stigmas regarding mental health,” said Courtney Smith, Human Resources Director at the Village School. “For example, a very prevalent one is if you have mental health issues, it means you’re crazy and people are afraid to start the conversation because people will assume things about them. Judgement and fear really hold back the conversation.”

Mental health issues can affect anyone, no matter how healthy a person may be. This is why taking care of mental health is equally important to taking care of physical health. However, what even if is mental health? If there is no definition, how can one address it or face it?

“Mental health issues can range from depression to bipolar disorder, to ADHD, but also to the ones people tend to disregard such as stress or anxiety,” said senior Jaylen Williams.

Mental health is taking care of your mental aspects because they connect to your physical aspects, it is all a chain reaction. If you don’t take care of your mental health, you won’t have a good physical health.”

When one thinks of mental health, they usually think about the more serious cases, and forget about the ones that are a universal experience. The most common ones are anxiety and stress. However, once it gets to the point where it is intolerable or it affects daily life in a very negative manner, it needs to be addressed.

“Mental health is directly correlated to your physical health,” said an ELL teacher at the Village School, Connie Collyer. “It directs your ability to perform throughout the day. Both go hand in hand.”

Many of us have experienced mental health issues but are not aware of it or have not taken the time to address it.

“People in my family were in need of counseling,” said an ELL teacher at the Village School, Mark Mihelcic. “My aunt was really stressed and would go into rage with my grandmother, even though they truly loved each other and my aunt was a loving person. They had an antagonistic relationship that could have been addressed through counseling.”

Stigmas pertain around mental health because of the lack of direct cures toward these issues. They are not fully understandable and many mental conditions do not have immediate cures. For many conditions, the only solution is taking a medication for a lifetime or doing a specific activity for a lifetime to address the condition.

“Proper medication, proper diagnosis, and surrounding yourself with people that understand and support you is the first step to addressing your mental health condition,” said Collyer. “People die from not having the proper mental health care. Get help, before it gets worse.”

For a physical ailment, one can just go to a doctor and schedule a checkup. Mental health is not that simple; the cause or ailment has to be discovered and steps to have to be taken to address it. It takes time and is a very long process.

“Mental health is a gray area,” said the Village School counselor, Felicia Doyle. “It isn’t black and white like physical health. The brain is the most complex organ in the body and is not fully understood. You cannot predict how the brain will process certain circumstances or events, you cannot think your thoughts away and the stigmas only make it worse. You begin to suppress the condition and this creates an even bigger issue.”

People tend to trust numbers and statistics, and with no vaccination for mental health, it has been ignored for so long. In addition, mental health has also been ignored because of the way people view it. For example, certain cultures used to be believe or still believe that you can just “pray” it away. Being strong won’t help the mental condition, get the help needed to tackle it. The lack of acknowledgement of mental health has made it worse and will only elevate it to be a bigger public health issue.

“Whenever I’m stressed, I sleep and whenever I feel sad or really angry, I play basketball,” said Williams.“It is my go to activity that helps clear my mind and take care of my mental health. You have to learn how to take care of yourself. There is a different process for everyone, but you have to accept your flaws and make the best out of every situation.”

Another issue is people don’t engage in self reflection or take time for themselves. People automatically classify people with mental health issues as crazy or weak. A culture of misunderstanding has been created around mental health.

“People feel this way because the way that psychologists and psychiatrists are portrayed as people who just have conversations with you,”said a licensed psychologist who has his own practice, Dr. Brian Goonan. “Psychologists and psychiatrists are trying to figure out what makes you who you are, what are the recurring situations that happen in your life that you are not being able to deal with, and the solutions you have to address them. If you talk to anyone, they will give you obvious answers. However they fail to see the underlying issue. The job of a psychologists and psychiatrists are to figure out why the easy solutions aren’t working.”

The reason why people’s mental health starts to deteriorate is because they lie to themselves. People are dishonest to themselves, and excluding chemical imbalances, dishonesty with the self is the major problem.

“Most people can say they’re not perfect but don’t actually fix or contemplate what would be better,” said Dr. Goonan. “As humans we attribute our success to ourselves, but we fail to take into the account, the help of others. The people that helped us succeed and helped us grow, what about them.

We also tend to attribute our difficulties to others and we love to play the blame game. Instead of not addressing conflict or pretending nothing happened, sit down with the person and have a conversation.”

It is time to address mental health and ensure there is a balance present between physical and mental health. People need to check up on their mental health and get the help they need. No one should die from not receiving the proper care. Change must be taken now.