Mental Health

A stigma that is running it’s course to be accepted as any other physical illness

Heard in one of the documentaries, of how our forefathers came to understand being a physician. How they understood that our body can be mended and not left to die. The story behind this was; In one of the communities, there was a man who was severely injured during one of the hunting sessions and as a precedent was left to die. They had learned from the animal species, that if any animal was injured badly in a combat, they are left behind to die. A comrade within the community, not having the will to let his fellow being to be left behind, took him to a cave and attended to him. He might have done this with the little knowledge of cooling down a heating up body or maybe washing the wounds or giving him food and clean water or just the companionship. The injured man survived his hardship and was welcomed back into the community. Guess that was an eye opener, as they might have started with the experiments from how to curb a fever or how to mend a broken bone. And through the companionship, they might have understood that even though the body is wounded the mind plays an integral role helping anyone of us getting back to feet.

So, what do you do when your mind is tired? Our minds that are very much connected to the body helps heal the body and vice versa. But how much does the body help? Or rather how much can the body help? We are yet to understand the workings of the mind. So when we say mind, how do you revive a mind? Or does it mean, it is the brain of our central nervous system which is the culprit? If indeed, it is the brain, then why cannot all accept that the hindrance of hormones, or chemical imbalances are a routine check away as any other physical condition? It is said widely that we are not even using a proper 10% of our brain power. If that is the case, how much do we know about how our brain functions? Even though there has been studies, how much of the information is accessible or accepted as normal by a layman? Do we know, when to get professional help? And what is holding us back to go and get the help that is required?

As generations has passed on, the misconceptions and absence on the awareness became the reasons to the current stigma. And maybe it is the perception that the only way out of this condition is seen as a punishment for not being normal. Hence, the inhibition runs deep to even understand the simplicity of it.

In our current age, light is been shed to focus on the brain functions through different imaging processes. As of now, that accounts for understanding to the highest degree and have provided answers that are forthcoming. Having gone through a couple of MRI’s myself, those are quite entertaining ones for up to 40 minutes of laying still with background music of Dolby atmos drums!. Still, those gave answers to the questions our learned physicians asked of. These are just the medical facts which have come to light on our brains. But what about the conditions in which the brain is developed from the time we are born? How can any physician undo the effects which might have caused a barrier in creating the needed hormones for the human body from the brain? We are only beginning to understand that it is ‘normal’ for the brain to be incapacitated for working ‘normally’ due to our life conditions (E.g. PTSD). All the different experiences we go through on our daily life from day one on this earth is accounted for the development of our brain.

From our childhood, we have been trained and advised on how to evade fever, how to take care of a bruise etc. It has all been conveyed down to us from generations. But is there any such advise when it comes to Mental health? There is nothing concrete as we are still in the infancy of understanding what that constitutes of. And the acceptance factor is no where near the required scale. We have started to acknowledge it, yes. But the outward motivation still does not have any inclination to the inward change that is required to understand that mental health is also a bodily function gone haywire. When we hear about a Psychiatrist, Psychologist or a Counselor, we do not see a physician (real doctor) as they might not have ‘medicines’ to be prescribed. They talk to us, to understand the internal thoughts and inhibitions or experiences that might have shaped the working of our brains. And even if they prescribe, the ‘medicines’ are seen as a verification for the person taking it to be ‘not normal’.

From what I have seen, if we take one person to be subjected to the condition; the cause lies with the perception of the person and also the people surrounding. As a result, it becomes even more hard to take a collective thought to be processed that anyone who the person interacts with can be in the wrong. For each one of us to understand that they can be a cause or effect for another person to loose their sense of reality or to inhibit themselves, takes a different level of awareness or realization.

Therefore, to fully recognize the dangers of mental health and how each one of us is attributed to the well being of others, it needs an enormous change in the thought process. And change is not a welcomed attribute to any society. All of the societies are in a way held back; to realize it’s actual effects on a single person. As mentioned initially it might take only one person to bring back the affected individual, that is truly hopeful. But what about the ones to whom everyone has turned their backs? This all adds to the stigma of Mental Health.

We have lots to learn, loads to understand about Mental Health. But to take care of a human, be it any physical or psychological ailment, is that not a worthy cause?