Mental health a priority

Manager of the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA), Betty Hunte says greater focus needs to be placed on mental health, including ensuring that the necessary resources are available to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of this nation.

Hunte says this is particularly important among the current and future employable persons in society, as this would help to maintain a solid platform on which the country can continue to build both economically and socially. She made the comments on Friday as she delivered remarks during a virtual panel discussion to mark World Mental Health Day 2020 under the theme ‘Your Mental Health Matters, Let’s End the Stigma’.

The NCSA head’s remarks came as she referred the World Health Organisation’s global social media challenge launched earlier this week, aimed at getting the world moving on mental health, with a call for a massive scale up in investment in this disease. She also drew on the words of the Word Health Organisation’s Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who said that “as we continue to live through a global pandemic, we need movement on mental health perhaps more than we have ever needed it before. We need to move for our own mental health, the mental health of our families, friends and colleagues, and more importantly, so that there is a massive increase in investment for mental health services at the national and international levels”. A position Hunte said the NCSA wholeheartedly endorses.

“If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health challenges you don’t have to suffer in silence. Receiving help is the most important thing anyone can do for themselves. But unfortunately the stigma keeps people from getting help. Mental illness, regardless of how acquired, should not be something to be ashamed about or thought of differently. When mental illness is treated equally to other illnesses, more people will have the courage to get help and better their lives,” she stated.

She made the point while noting that more than 450 million people are suffering from mental health disorders worldwide, and it is estimated that by the end of this year depression will constitute the second largest disease burden worldwide. She said the figures are “sobering”, when one considers that mental health has an impact on persons’ educational outcomes, productivity at work, development of positive personal relationships, crime rates as well as alcohol and drug abuse.

She made the point while referring to the “new dispensation” brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, where she lamented that “our levels of anxiety seem to have gone through the roof”, in particular when there are reports of another diagnosed cases of the potentially fatal virus.

“The uncertainty can be numbing. You know when we were growing up a lot of us used to hear ‘what you don’t know can’t hurt you’, but now it is truly frightening that what we don’t know can indeed hurt us. And it is this uncertainty and anxious anticipation that can impact any of us here today,” she added.

She went on to say that for many persons mental health is a provocative term, conjuring up stereotypical images of persons alternately ranting or raving, or ominously so into their thoughts that you never know what comes next. She maintained that the stigma that often accompanies these judgements are driven by the belief that mental illness is a personal failure, but Hunte made it clear that such is not the case. (JRT)