World Mental Health Day 2019
“Alarmingly, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds.” [Source]
World Mental Health Day, on 10 October, is a day for all of us to unite in our efforts to improve the mental health of people around the world. The theme that has been selected for this year’s Day is suicide prevention.
There has been a stigma associated with mental health and suicide for long. Before I talk about anything, I would like to put forth a few facts and figures by the World Health Organisation:
- One person dies by suicide every 40 seconds.
- A prior suicide attempt is an important risk factor for suicide.
- Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15–29 year-olds.
- Suicide affects people of all age groups in all countries.
And, the most important — Suicides are preventable.
“Have you ever experienced depression or anxiety or have you lost any of your loved ones to suicide or do you have a close friend or relative or acquaintance who appears to be depressed or remains extremely happy or gloomy or exhibits erratic moods or behaves in a way that doesn’t seem usual and so on …?” If the answer to any of this is yes, then you are one of those people who have felt the pain of people suffering from mental illnesses to varying intensities, depending upon the situation.
Mental illness in no way is less painful than any physical illness. In fact, it has the potential to kill a living body every single day or maybe every single moment. It’s extremely painful for an individual to face this pain. That’s why I believe that it’s not the time to sympathise and move on rather it’s high time to empathise with such people and help them recover from such illnesses. Trust me, if you help one person suffering from mental illness, you are not affecting just one life positively, rather you are preventing his/her loved ones from falling into the horrible trap of depression. And, this is indeed a noble deed.
I would like to invite you all to join me in an initiative that aims to make people of all age groups, especially the youth, aware of the various mental health problems that not only affect an individual but also leaves their loved ones into a trauma if he/she takes his/her own life. I genuinely believe that:
“Awareness has an immense potential to lighten up dead brains”
Hence, we have taken up an initiative to talk about one mental health problem on our Facebook page weekly to make all of us aware of the existing mental health disorders. I invite all of you to join us and also invite your friends and relatives to join us to break this stigma around mental health. Feel free to share your stories and experiences on our page with the hashtag #ItMatters.
Also, check out my blog on how you can help people suffering from mental illnesses.
You can also check out my video on YouTube regarding the subject.
