Mental Health For All In An Unequal World: Overcoming Mental Health Issues

Mental Health In An Unequal World

World Mental Health Day is celebrated on 10th October and the theme for 2021 is “Mental Health in an Unequal World”. The topic as well as the theme are extremely relevant under the current circumstances, since mental health is the foremost challenge we face globally. In addition, as the inequalities are increasing in the world, the mental health of people from poorer backgrounds is more likely to be neglected. The pandemic has precipitated a slew of mental health challenges and also increased the inequalities with a K shaped recovery. The recovery takes cue from the shape of the letter, K, and has allowed the privileged to increase their incomes disproportionately, while the marginalized population has suffered even more.

It is not that the privileged segments of society are immune from the devastating effects of mental health issues but it is noteworthy that their less privileged counterparts are likely to be more affected and suffer more on this front.

Let us take this opportunity on World Mental Health Day to revisit the basics, since the first step to battling this menace is to spread awareness and engage in open communication. Firstly, let us understand what mental health is all about. 

What exactly is Mental Health?

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides an interesting definition of mental health.

Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

World Health Organization

Any persistent factors that inhibit our ability to realize our own capabilities or being unable to cope with stress are covered under the umbrella category of mental health issues.

As one can see from the above definition, the scope of what constitutes mental health is rather broad. How many of us can truly claim that we are in peak mental condition to operate at our highest level of capability across all spheres of our life?

It is also worth noting that not being in the peak of mental health is different from succumbing to a mental illness. This distinction is extremely crucial to a nuanced understanding of this subject, so let us dive a little deeper into this.

The Anatomy Of A Healthy Mind 

Mentally healthy people have the ability to adapt, adjust, and overcome the challenges of their lives in a productive and positive way. Such people have an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. They are able to accept and adapt to changing circumstances. A mentally healthy person can recognize when he or she is struggling and reach out for help. In the context of mental health, even the mere inability of the mind to enable the individual to perform at peak capacity constitutes being unhealthy. However, this state of mind may not amount to mental illness.

Related Read: Perception

What Constitutes Mental Illness

There are several kinds of mental illness such as anxiety disorders, chronic depression, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) etc. The nature and causes of each of the mental health illness categories may vary significantly from each other. However, I would like to use the term mental illness in the context of WHO’s definition mentioned above, since many of these mental illnesses require highly specialized understanding of the complexities of the human mind.

In contrast to a healthy mind, people with mental illnesses are often times victims of a lack of education and/or misinformation about these conditions. They typically lack this self-awareness and often suffer an impaired ability to cope with stress. Many people with mental health issues do not receive the treatment they need because of stigma and a lack of understanding on the part of others.

We have barely scratched the surface, and in order to understand these concepts at a deeper level, it is important that one consults the relevant professionals. I am sharing some of my observations from the vantage point of my own experiences, and this should not be construed as medical advice or opinion. With this important disclaimer out of the way, let us turn our attention to the impact of these mental health issues.

What is the impact of Mental Health Issues?

Mental health has a devastating impact on both individuals as well as society as a whole. Let us examine the impact at the micro level from the perspective of an individual.

Impact of Mental Health Issues on Individuals

From the standpoint of an individual, mental health issues can lead to a loss of productivity, a decline in self-esteem, and an increased likelihood of making poor decisions. Such mental state can then lead to self-destructive behaviors such as substance abuse, poor diet, risky sexual behavior, unsafe driving, and violent behaviors. Individuals with mental health issues often lack the skills or the aptitude needed to succeed in their jobs or other endeavors. They may also experience discrimination and isolation in their communities.

In my experience in the corporate world, I have seen these issues manifest in de-motivation, sudden and sharp drop in performance and productivity levels or simply disengaging from social or project-based interactions with team mates. In many cases, the routine activities and deliverables continue on a business as usual mode, but the impact of mental health issues is clearly visible when one tries to engage in a conversation or a deliverable off the beaten track.

It is extremely important, particularly under the current circumstances, to speak with team members beyond work and casual inquiries about their well being. We also need to check in on each other’s feelings. In line with the theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day, Mental Health for all in an unequal world, it is a good idea to send out feelers that each one, including the junior most team members will be heard by the leaders, in case of mental health issues. Of course, this needs to be followed through by actions that reflect empathy for the concerned individuals.

Impact of Mental Health Issues on Society

The impact of these mental health issues does not end with the affected individual. These issues also engulf the entire community in which they live, affecting families and friends, as well as neighbors and co-workers. 

As these effects cascade from individual to community, they have a significant impact at the macro level too. From the standpoint of society, mental health issues affect employment, education, and family life. The cost of mental illness in terms of lost productivity, medical expenses, legal costs, and social impact is staggering. These issues have already been dominant, particularly in the western world. However, such large scale collective impact of mental health issues has been witnessed during the pandemic across the entire world.

How Has The Pandemic Increased Mental Health Issues?

The pandemic has exacerbated the impact of mental health. It will not be an exaggeration to state that the level of anxiety, worries and stress has increased manifold for everyone, irrespective of whether they have been directly impacted by the pandemic or not.

In fact, I had published a book on How to Stay Positive and Productive in your war against Corona in March 2020 itself. In this book, written at a time when the first lock-down was just declared in India, I had forewarned that the challenges relating to mental health will far outstrip the physical health related issues, both in terms of the spread of the malaise as well as in terms of the impact. Man is a social animal and cutting off from the society for an extended period of time has been one of the most unnatural things for us.

To compound this, the loss of income, businesses closing down, and fear of the unknown are all taking a serious toll on people’s mental health. Many are turning to drugs and alcohol to cope with their pain. Others are becoming overwhelmed by the changes the pandemic has brought about and are committing suicide in record numbers.

Although I do hope for the contrary; but most likely, people who suffer from mental illness will continue to experience symptoms of their condition even after the pandemic is over. This means they will need ongoing care and support. The first step towards mitigating these issues is to identify people that are facing mental health issues and need help.

How To Identify And Diagnose Mental Health Issues?

The first step towards identifying the issues is self-awareness. A lot of people who experience a serious mental health issue don’t realize they have a problem until it is too late. That’s why it is so important that everyone knows how to spot the early warning signs of mental health problems and know where to go for help.

Every individual is unique, so the manifestation of mental health issues may vary from person to person. But here are a few simple questions that you can ask yourself to check on your mental health. The golden question that needs to be answered is whether there is something abnormal about the way you are feeling that warrants seeking external help and can be classified as a mental health issue.

Top 10 Questions to ask for self-assessment of Mental Health

Here is a list of 10 questions that you can ask yourself to conduct a quick self-diagnosis of your mental health.

1. Do you feel you have become more irritable, or have you started to avoid people?
2. Has your sleep pattern changed?
3. Are you experiencing some sort of physical symptoms that you never had before?
4. Have you noticed changes in your eating habits?
5. Another sign is if you notice that your behavior is changing.
6. Have you begun to lose interest in activities you used to enjoy?
7. Do you find yourself constantly checking your phone, your email, or your messages, even when you are not expecting to receive any?
8. Do you find yourself more easily annoyed or impatient?
9. Do you find yourself having difficulty concentrating on what you are doing?
10. Have you been getting in trouble with the law, your family, or your friends because of the way you are feeling?

More importantly, you can become more observant about the behavior of people around you – your family, colleagues and associates – and ring the alarm bell if you find anomalies in line with these 10 questions for a quick dipstick diagnosis of mental health issues.

Once you identify that there is a problem, the next step is to make sure that you are getting the help that you need.

Overcoming Mental Health Challenges

But, even before we get to the solutions, let us first address the elephant in the room. Or rather, the two elephants in the room that pose the biggest challenge to overcoming mental health issues.

The Associated Stigma

The biggest challenge to optimal mental health is the stigma associated with mental health issues. This stigma can have a profound effect because it affects people’s ability to seek help, access services, and feel comfortable talking about their problems. It is important for us to understand that when someone is in distress, it does not mean that they will always be in distress, or that this is their destiny.

For example, if someone is experiencing acute pain, they will probably experience some amount of discomfort. But when they reach out for help, they will most likely find a way to resolve the issue. That is because of the human spirit that we all share. However, the same person may be experiencing distress over a prolonged period of time, but our conditioned response is very different from our response to a physical illness.

Consequently, it is critical that we do not stigmatize a person consulting mental health practitioners, and actively counsel people who consciously or sub-consciously are a part of the vicious cycle that perpetuates the stigmatization of mental health disorders.

For example, we had conducted a session on mental health and spoken openly about some of the above pointers. A few people spoke with me after the session and gathered the courage to speak about their mental health issues, without any apprehension. This was the first and most important step to getting back on track to peak mental condition.

Can we solve Mental Illness just like any other illness?

Now, let us visit the second elephant in the room. Even if one gets over the stigma, most people do not believe that mental illness can be treated just like any other illness. However, the fact is that mental health is an integral part of overall health and can be worked upon just like any other organ or disease of the body.

In fact, just like any other disease, we need to look at the root causes of mental illness, rather than just treating the symptoms. When we treat the symptoms, it is possible to address the distress but it does not necessarily mean that we are going to be able to treat or cure the condition.

For instance, in my corporate life, I have seen many instances of supervisors incorrectly attributing drops in performance to incompetence or unwillingness of people to work. In reality, these performance issues were only the symptoms, whereas the disease was a mental health issue, which obviously went undetected. Such misplaced diagnosis can exponentially increase the damage caused to the suffering individual.

So, with the stigma out of the way and a belief in our power to control and influence mental health, let us examine how mental health can be improved.

Different Strokes To Address Mental Health Related Issues

Mental illness is an affliction of one of the organs of the human body, much like any other disease such as diabetes or cardio vascular diseases. When we suffer from the latter, what do we do? 

We consult specialists in the field and address the disease through a combination of medication and lifestyle changes. In extreme cases such as cancer, we need to work a lot on the mental toughness too, in conjunction with the other treatment.

Similarly, mental health should be left to experts such as psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health professionals, etc. It is not something that is within the reach of a general practitioner or do-it-yourself guides. The human mind is extremely complex and reading about remedies on the internet and applying these on yourself or your loved ones is fraught with risk. Each one is cut out differently and one man’s nectar may be another man’s poison. Consequently, as I share my experiences below, please do not construe this as a one size fits all advice on how to deal with such issues.

Related Read: Action Is The Prescription To Overcome Confusion

My Experiences During The Pandemic

The first thing that I did as soon as the pandemic hit India, was to write a book that served as a lifestyle guide, during the lock-down. This urged the readers to explore their creative side, rather than just being consumers and I am grateful for the feedback received and delighted that it helped quite a few people adopt a mindset to navigate the pandemic better.

On the work front, I created a mental model and a framework around the pitstop mindset. This worked for me and my team during the pitstop as we were able to stay focused and cut out the noise and the negativity in the air. Our team became citizen developers and built apps without any technical background or assistance and these initiatives received multiple recognition internationally, for both technology and people innovation.

As the days progressed and we reached the end of last year, I took to another round of writing and ended up writing a comprehensive Year In Review series with 21 posts, rivaling the content of the book itself. It gave me unparalleled satisfaction that this series was widely read and appreciated and gave the mental strength to a lot of readers. In fact, it has been appearing as the first result or Featured Snippet on Google, ahead of a billion search results!

Although it is universally accepted that sharing our feelings and experiences help us in dealing with our emotions, what specifically worked for me, may not work for you. For instance, you may find solace and mental peace in exploring the benefits of art. As we often hear, one man’s trash may be another man’s treasure and the contrary is also true!

The treatment of mental illness needs proper attention from the concerned experts. The key takeaway is that as a lay person, we need to be aware of the concept of mental health and be vigilant and empathetic to diagnose potential cases of mental illness and prompt the concerned to take the required action. However, just as we visit medical specialists for various diseases and ailments, rather than searching for the prescription on Google, the same concept applies to mental illness too.

A Paradigm Shift On World Mental Health Day

Let us treat this World Mental Health Day as the excuse to put in place a new paradigm of mental health. Can we re-imagine a world where it is normal to talk about mental health? Where people do not fear talking about their feelings? Can we create a world where mental health is seen as an essential part of our existence?

It is not always easy to create a new paradigm because it requires us to challenge what we know. In addition, we may feel that we do not have the power to make the changes. This is why we need to start by making a change in our own behaviour. If we are able to change our own behaviour and our mindset, we can begin to change the world. On this World Mental Health Day, let us challenge what we think and do, and vow to aspire for peak mental health for ourselves and also for all citizens of the world, in line with the theme of Mental Health In An Unequal World!

Note: This information is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical opinion.

Editor’s Note:

If this prompts you to share your experiences, please add your comments below or you can also write about them on our website:

About The Author

Rajiv Maheshwari is a business and start-up advisor, and the co-founder of From The Experts Mouth. He is a management professional with over 25 years of experience, and worked as CEO for a decade, and in leadership roles with NYSE listed companies such as Accenture and WNS.

He is a Chartered Accountant and MBA (Director’s Merit List from IIM Bangalore) and an autodidact, who is on the path of self-directed life long learning and sharing. He is a thought leader, author and keynote speaker and has developed several frameworks to bridge the gap between academia and industry.

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