Mental health is one of the burning issues these days. Every 5th person is not having good mental health. The biggest problem is that physical health can be easily judged but it becomes too difficult to judge mental health. If we have a broken bone, pain in the stomach, or any other disease, it can be felt easily because we can feel it and we consult our doctor immediately. But the opposite is the case in the case of mental health.
WE TAKE IT LIGHTLY
If someone in your family is depressed, all the people around will guide you to keep calm and will suggest that such things happen in life and also will guide you to remain happy, instead of consulting any doctor. After some days, the said person stops taking meals, likes to remain alone, mood swings are seen and the, said person seems to be living in another world. The same situation continues for several days. Even then we will have no idea that the said person may be mentally sick and that we should consult a doctor.
CONSULTING A PSYCHIATRIST BECOMES MANDATORY
However, the right doctor to visit will be a psychiatrist so if anyhow somebody suggests that the said person may be suffering from depression and you have to consult a good psychiatrist. The family members will simply deny the fact and refuse to visit a doctor. They will answer that if the said person is not mental then why visit a psychiatrist? Since, in our society, this mental phobia is prevailing that a psychiatrist treats only mental cases therefore if any one of us happens to see any known person coming out of the psychiatrist’s clinic, we presume that the person is mentally ill and start making distance with the said person. This is the social stigma prevailing in our society.
WHAT HAPPENS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES
In foreign countries, if any person suffers from such conditions, they normally and immediately visit a psychiatrist and get the patient treated, after some time the patient is cured and starts living a normal life. There is no social stigma in their society. They have a more civilized society than ours and understand the situation. Moreover, they understand what depression is and why it is important to get the disease treated well
WE EAT TILL THE PATIENT BECOMES BEDRIDDEN
In our country, we wait till the patient is bedridden. Only then visit the doctor. We visit the doctor when the disease has reached its peak. Then at that point, it becomes very difficult to cure it. Since it may take a very long time to cure it and even sometimes the patient has to be dependent on the medicines throughout the whole of his life so the simple funda is that the earlier you visit a doctor better the chances of recovering that too in the shortest period. So, if such a condition prevails in anybody’s life, please immediately consult your doctor and let the treatment start. Act before it is too late.
HOW TO IDENTIFY THE DISEASE
If a person is not in good mental health, he can’t lead a happy life. He is upset with his inner self. He doesn’t feel well. His brain is not at rest. He likes to remain alone, seems to be living in another world, doesn’t laugh, and doesn’t take his meals properly. He is sad. This means that the said person is in some sort of trouble and he needs help. Visit your doctor and get him treated.
Today I am going to make you aware of your life. I will try to make you understand if there is something wrong with you. Say a child in your family is not feeling well for 2-3 days. He is even not taking his food properly. If the same situation continues for 7 days. Parents come and advise the child to remain happy. Grandfather comes and says come on son, let’s go out for a walk. Fresh air is very beneficial for health. The same situation continues for 15 days. Now the child is even not able to sleep. If he sleeps, he sleeps for 15-16 hours.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
If a child stops talking about his dreams which he earlier used to talk about. He is not able to express his happiness or sorrows. It straight away means that some mental tension is going on in his mind. Look, if a person is suffering from fever this straight away indicates that there is some infection inside the body because of which the said person is having a fever. In such conditions going for a walk in the morning will not work. Antibiotic has to be given to the patient. In the same way, the child has to be administered any medicine prescribed by any psychiatrist. This means that this condition also requires medicine.
IMBALANCE IN THE SECRETION OF CHEMICALS IN OUR BRAIN
There are certain chemicals secreted in our brain which are serotonin, dopamine, and norfenefrine. If these enzymes are secreted in larger quantities, the person becomes hyperactive and if secreted in less quantity, means the person is suffering from depression. These chemicals secreted in our brain are called neurotransmitters. This means that it becomes very important that the balance of these neurotransmitters is maintained in our brain. In both cases, as stated above, we require medicines.
HALLUCINATION
It is also a mental disorder in which the suffering person sees a particular person or image. The patient can even talk with and see any other person which doesn’t appear there. Other people are neither able to see nor hear the person to whom the patient is talking. The patient remains frightened and may even say that someone wants to kill him. The patient may see images formed on the wall. Others try to explain that it’s an illusion but the patient remains adamant about his statement. You might have seen such a situation in a famous Hindi movie MUNNA BHAI MBBS(PART 2), where the patient used to see Mahatma Gandhi and used to talk with him. Later he concluded that it was some sort of chemical imbalance in his mind.
DELUSION OF INFIDELITY
It is also another type of mental disorder. The patient may consider him to be a King. He may start behaving like a king and want others to talk and behave with him like a King. In this disease, the patient may become suspicious of the activities of his wife. As a result, he may destroy his married life. This disease is called the delusion of infidelity. Delusion means false thinking. If somebody tries to convince the patient that he is thinking wrong. He is in no way going to understand. This syndrome affects males and less often, females. It is characterized by recurrent accusations of infidelity, searches for evidence, repeated interrogation of the partner, and tests of the patient partner’s fidelity.
DISASSOCIATION DISORDER
This disorder is also associated with our brains. An old man of 60 years lives alone in his house. His children have settled abroad. He gets a pension at the end of every month. His children used to send him some money every month. They never call him. One day he becomes unconscious. He starts palpitating and feels uneasiness. He is admitted to a hospital and treated there.
CHANGED SCENARIO
Then everybody including his children started calling him. Children enquired about his health and added that what will happen to them if he is not there. Who will guide us? The old man starts feeling well after hearing this. He immediately starts behaving like a normal person. Nobody can judge that some time ago he was in critical condition. This means that he needs love and attention. A man can’t live a happy life until and unless his brain is satisfied. This is called disassociation disorder.
INSOMNIA AND HYPER-SOMNIA
Insomnia and hypersomnia are other mental disorders. If a person is suffering from insomnia, he is either not able to have a sound sleep or has no sleep at all. Whereas people suffering from hypersomnia may spend as many as 16-17 hours a day asleep. They feel exhausted even after having been asleep for 17 hours a day.
PHOBIA
Another mental disorder of the brain. In such conditions, the person may feel afraid in some situations like sitting in an airplane or going up by lift. If a child had seen anybody being murdered in front of him. It may happen if the child has been sexually abused. Even after growing into an adult, the child may suffer from this disease.
There are so many disorders of the brain which I will not be able to explain in one blog itself. I will try to explain them in any of my next blogs.
Hope you will enjoy reading this article. Stay connected to read my next articles. Till then Bye! God bless you all.