As May is recognized in parts as World Mental Health Month, I thought it would be a good time to talk about it and look into the world of mental health and well-being. As a school counsellor, coach, and advocate for well-being in the local community, I feel very strongly about the importance mental health plays in our lives. My reason for choosing this topic for today was to also make talking about mental health and well-being more normal.
The World Health Organisation constitution states: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
They go on to say that “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.”
It is true that it is something that we do not always talk about, think about, and do not always consider how important it really is. I think current situations and times have opened up our thinking about how important mental health and well-being really are.
As a counsellor, I regularly get counselling supervision from a trained psychologist, the reason I do this and all other therapists do the same is that we all need to focus and spend time on ourselves. For caregivers like counsellors you can deal with a lot of other people’s emotions and it is important to get support yourself then too. I see myself as my tools in the work I do, if you were a chef you would take time to sharpen your tools and make sure they were at their best for the job they do, well counselling is the same for a counsellor and it can be beneficial for anyone.
My counselling supervisor is Dr. Daniela from the Lighthouse Arabia, I decided to ask her a few questions to get a psychologist’s thoughts on what is mental health and why it is so important now more than ever. Dr. Daniela is a clinical psychologist who works with children of all ages, adolescents, and adults.
- What got you into working as a psychologist?
I was always interested in people’s stories and behaviors. I love getting to know people at a deeper level and being able to help them get to know themselves and achieve to become the best version of themselves possible.
- Do you think it is important for us to look after our mental health the same way we do our physical health?
I always like to mention that our mental health lives on a continuum, the same way our physical health does – and remember mental health is not the same as mental illness. Mental health is the equivalent to the health of your thought’s feelings and behaviors.
Let us take a moment to think about our physical health, it also lives on a continuum. Some days or weeks, you can have good physical health – perhaps you are sleeping well, eating nutritious meals, exercising, and you are feeling really well. Other days or weeks – due to self-isolation at home or various reasons you can poor physical health; you are not sleeping well, you are over-eating, lowered immunity, aches, and pains – and your physical health is poor.
The same is true for our mental health. Some days and weeks you can have very good mental health; you are feeling optimistic, hopeful about the future, confident, and connected to the people in your life. Other days or weeks you can have poor mental health; you’re feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, fearful, being really hard on yourself about not having more of a routine at home – shaming yourself when you see how other parents are creating sculptures with their kids and you think, what is wrong with me? And you can have poorer mental health. Sometimes how we feel in the morning can be different from how we feel in the evening – if I were to get into an argument with a loved one.
Having poor mental health is not the same as having a mental illness – the same way having poor physical health does not mean you will go on to develop disease. However, it does create more risk. I also want you to keep in mind that the same way people who are very physically fit can still go on to develop disease – we’ve all heard of the marathon runner who develops cancer – the same is true for mental illness – you can have good mental health and go on to develop a mental illness, although there are things we can do to make that less likely.
- What types of mental health concerns are you seeing a lot of lately?
Anxiety, Depression, Chronic Stress, Chronic Grief
- Why do you think that is?
We are feeling lots of feelings but cannot make sense of them. Uncertainty is considered one of the top human stressors—and facing it can leave us feeling powerless.
During times of uncertainty in the face of threat, our brains go on a negative autopilot and we exaggerate the probabilities of bad outcomes. Coronavirus anxiety is an understandable response to the unknown. We are grieving how our lives were and the expectations we had for this year. There are a lot of feelings that are raw at the moment.
- Do you think when someone is suffering from low mental health it affects their performance in work or in school? Why do you think this is the case?
The core definition of mental health illness is that you’re going to see BIG-MAJOR changes in how someone is thinking, feeling, and behaving and it’s not just a few difficult days, the disruption in their thoughts, feelings, the behavior will be persistent over time, it will interrupt their functioning and their life.
I will say that the onset of mental illness is typically gradual. It is not the ‘Johnson is relatively okay at noon and by 5 pm he is experiencing depression. It is typically weeks or months of a gradual accumulation of poor mental health that leads to a disorder. For example, imagine Johnson has been struggling for the last few months – he is overwhelmed, has financial stress, and his closest friend and team member has moved back to his home country. Now since the pandemic you have noticed Johnson is struggling to sleep, isolating himself, fighting with friends and family, tasks that took him 1 hour are now taking him 4 to 5 hours and sometimes even a few days.
The inner world and the loudness of it begins to impact our work, physical health, relationships, or work performance in some way. For many, they can be extremely high performing in one domain of their life (work) but see that they are often physically fatigued, exhausted, depleted – struggling to be emotionally available to loved ones. As symptoms worsen you can find many domains, if not all, are beginning to be impacted negatively in some way.
- Do you feel there is still a stigma around people who have mental health concerns?
Mental health is quite a dirty word – most people do not have an understanding of what it actually is. We ALL have mental health, the same way we all have physical health. Mental health is NOT the same thing as mental illness.
When we say mental health, in a nutshell, it means the health of your thoughts, feelings, an overall wellbeing.
I grew up in a family where we never said the word mental health or anyone asked about ‘feelings’ – emotions were generally regarded as something that gets in the way of logical thinking and what I’ve found years into working as a therapist – most people from all over the world have the same experience. You go back a generation or further and they say – emotions? Feelings? We have to survive a war what are you talking about?
- What can we do as a society or on an individual level to break this stigma?
Education is the first step into awareness. We need to continue educating our community about what is mental health and how to help someone in need. At our clinic, we deliver free of cost webinars to the community around mental health as well as training to help others give first aid to someone who might be struggling with a mental health illness.
- Myths and truths about mental health?
Some of the most common myths around Mental Health are that only crazy people or weak people have, most people think it’s the same as mental illness, also thinking that feeling good all of time and lastly people think it is a fixed state rather than a continuum.
- You previously worked as a school counsellor, how important is it for parents to link in with the counsellor to support their child’s wellbeing?
Being able to have a team with parents and school counselors is very important. If you have a child who is struggling with a mental illness it is important to include all the stakeholders that can possibly make a difference in his/her environment to support, their progress.
At the end we all want for the child to progress and improve- so the team approach is going to be a united front in the benefit of the child
- Do you need to have a mental illness or a concern to benefit from seeing a psychologist or counsellor?
Seeing a counsellor or psychologist, I like to see it as seeing an emotional coach- It is the time where are you getting to know yourself at a deeper level alongside someone who can guide you to recognize your triggers- understand your past events in a healthier and positive way as well as help you become the person that you want to be. It is not only for people that struggle with a mental illness
- What advice would you give to someone who may be going through a low point in relation to their mental health?
Your mental health is just as important as your physical health- get the right support right away. Early intervention and detection can drastically change your life.
So whether we want to believe it or not we all have a mental health and it is important to pay as much attention to it as you do to your physical health, they both work together and there are lots of things that you can do that impact them both positively. As Dr. Daniela mentioned it is important if you are concerned to reach out and seek support. There is no shame in talking about mental health and getting support when needed if you have a mental illness or not. I have a physical illness that I am not ashamed of and no one would expect me to be, so we need to bring this into the world of mental health and as Dr. Daniela said think of it as a continuum and let us start talking about mental health and well-being and support each other. 😊
