Good mental health is essential to all human beings for better co-existence with each other. Every person should make it their responsibility and work hard towards achieving suitable mental standards even though it’s a collective responsibility.
The product of our day-to-day lives results from the mental state that we are in at that moment in time. For example; if you would allow a sober person to work in a calm and peaceful environment; you are likely to be more productive compared to the same person working in a hostile environment
It’s time that people are made aware of the benefits of good mental health because you will find a person visiting a health facility just to get general medical checkups. But it’s rare to find a person paying a visit to a psychiatrist to have a mental health assessment.
Many people usually pronounce themselves fit without proper mental health checkups. This trend is dangerous because you can’t identify mentally ill persons walking on the streets just by looking at them.
A psychometric test has to be carried out by a medically trained psychiatrist to declare a person mentally stable and sane. There are quite a number of issues that are triggering this unprecedented crisis; but in my opinion, here are some of the leading factors.
1. Harsh Economic Times
Many countries across the globe, including the superpowers, are experiencing severe social and economic impacts. The majority of these countries attribute their acute monetary problems to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although this may be the case, most of these countries were experiencing harsh economic times even before Covid-19 struck. The ripple effect s felt by the ordinary people living in these countries, especially those living in third world countries.
Millions of people have lost their jobs, and others were already jobless, making their lives more miserable. Money has become a scarce resource such that some people are struggling to meet their basic needs.
It’s a big blow to family providers to see their n sleep hungry or be kicked out of their rental homes. That is causing a lot of pain to those affected, resulting in depression and other mental disorders.
2. Drug Abuse
The use of hard drugs is rampant, especially among the youths, who are the majority of the world population. Doing comes with a lot of issues, some direct and others indirect. One of the hardest hits is the financial aspect.
Drugs are costly, and to maintain such an expensive habit, addicts are forced to get extra money to sustain their drug lifestyles. During these tough economic times, some are forced to engage in crime to buy drugs.
When crime and drugs are combined, the results are quite clear that someone ends up in a police cell and finally in jail. Life in jail is not a walk in the park, even though it’s believed to be a correctional facility.
Some of these convicts end up graduating in criminal activities due to negative influence from hardcore criminals in the jail cells. Society has raised the psychological bar so high that ex-convicts and drug addicts are considered mentally unstable and should be monitored throughout as they are considered to threaten other members of society.
3. Family and Relationship Issues
As the saying goes, love makes the world go around; it’s relatively true that where there’s love, there’s peace. Peace and love provide a conducive environment to think and act responsibly.
When a couple gets married and starts a family unit, the relationship is expected to be bound by love, respect, and understanding. Nowadays, love is no longer the binding glue; instead, money and material things have replaced the key elements in many relationships.
This new normal has ruined many relationships and families. Once loves gets sour, and in case of a divorce, one of the partners may feel short charged and deeply hurt by the divorce.
This is where depression sets in, and that’s why crimes of passion are on the rise. It’s fair to say that failed marriages have equally contributed to mental health illness.
4. Poor Leadership and Failure to Implement Government Polices
Every government gets to power with a mission and clear manifesto full of promising policies. The manifesto has goodies packed for persons of all ages.
There is what the youth expect from the government and the adults too. The policies set for the youths should be implemented fully to cater to their needs and that of other target groups.
Poor leadership and bad governance have contributed to a lot of misery globally. When the government of the day fails to implement policies in their manifestoes, this directly affects respected target groups. For instance, in the case of the youths, they expect the government to meet their expectation with a decisive approach.
The majority of the youths in most developing countries are jobless, and those working are based in informal sectors where wages cannot sustain a decent lifestyle. This gives them stress and sleepless nights to figure out how best to cope with their pathetic situations.
Final Thoughts
Depression is real, and it’s affecting people of all ages and society at large. Suicide cases are on the rise, together with other life-threatening cases. This indicates that it’s high time that people start taking mental health more seriously.
Government revolts and uprisings are happening all over the world. These are clear signs that people are not contented with what’s going on with the world at the moment. The problems are getting bigger by the day and may soon get out of hand if not well addressed globally.
Every government needs to pay attention to its people to know precisely what is ailing them and work on healing processes. A sick nation cannot deliver healthy people. There’s no other alternative other than ensuring that all people are given a fair share of opportunities to achieve a mentally fit universe
