Living With Schizophrenia: World Mental Health Day 2014
Living With Schizophrenia: World Mental Health Day 2014
The UN body WHO recently celebrated World Mental Health Day on 10th October and the theme was “Living With Schizophrenia”. World Mental Health Day is annually held every year on this day for raising public awareness about mental health issues worldwide. The event is also intended to promote open discussions on mental illnesses and propose investments in prevention and treatment services.
World Mental Health acquires significance for countries like India where there are only 3,500 psychiatrists at present for helping persons to cope with mental disorders. Moreover, though a mental health policy has been framed, like any other policy, it is the implementation which matters the most. Healthcare facilities need to be upgraded especially for those who are poor, destitute and suffering from mental diseases.
World Mental Health Day is celebrated in more than 100 countries every year through World Mental Health Day commemorative events and programmes at local, regional and national level. This is an initiative which has been formulated by the World Federation for Mental Health. The WHO supports this event and another organisation which also supports this initiative is the Mental Health Foundation.
The theme for 2014 is “Living with schizophrenia”. The aim of the World Mental Health Day is to help those who are suffering from this mental health disorder to cope effectively with it and lead productive and efficient lives with new opportunities for personal growth and development. The aim is to raise awareness about mental health issues and mobilise support to help those suffering from mental illnesses like schizophrenia, panic disorders, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders and OCD. The focus of the WHO this year will be living a healthy life with schizophrenia and more can be found out about this initiative at
http://www.who.int/mental_health/world-mental-health-day/2014/en/.
About Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a long term mental disease that causes many different psychological problems such as hallucinations, delusions as well as thought disturbances and changes in behaviour and thought. Persons suffering from this chronic mental disease often are unable to distinguish their own thoughts from the real world and may suffer from magical belief systems as well.
While an estimated 1 in 100 people experience at least one such psychotic episode in their lives, 75% of these may go on to experience one or more further episodes. Coping with mental illness is not easy. It takes a massive toll on the family as well. Initiatives such as World Mental Health day will go far in removing the stigma that is associated with mental illnesses and help the public to understand that sufferers need to be treated without discrimination so that they can have a chance at a normal life. 450 million people in the world suffer from mental disorders, estimates WHO. It is time both policy and action worked to help those with mental disorders to have an opportunity to live their lives free from judgemental discrimination. Rehabilitation and access to medical care for the mentally ill are the top priorities which must be attained.
