Mental health is very important for every individual. What is mental health? Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being. It is the state of mind of an individual expressing his thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Mental health is very important for every individual. What is mental health? In the present lifestyle, people are becoming more reserved. People have trust issues among themselves. No one wants to show their real personality out. There are various reasons behind this kind of change in nature. If we talk about the older times, people used to trust each other, they felt relieved by discussing their thoughts and feelings with their loved ones and friends. But now in this modern and advanced time, everyone competes with the other person. Earlier we used to say, your grief can be minimized if you share it with your loved one, but now people say it’s better to cry in front of a wall than a person. It’s the sad reality of our lives that we are lacking in trust.
The Internet plays a crucial role in our lives. It has made our life very easy, we have access to multiple opportunities. We are doing online studies, remote jobs and doing payments online, and many more. But everything has its pros and cons, social media which was initially a tool of connecting with friends and family living far away. But with time, I realized it’s becoming a hub for mental sickness. Everyone is showing off their fake lifestyle, showing how happy they are, how cool the lifestyle and they are living the best of their life. But it is the opposite, especially for adults. Adults like school kids and adolescents are the prime victims of this social media trap. They are more worried about how many likes and followers they are getting, they feel depressed if they get fewer likes than others. It’s a whole new world now. There is no privacy, where they are going, what they are eating and what they are doing is all over their social profile. This is the main reason that many kids become victims of cybercrime, where they are stalked and blackmailed. They are always thinking about what is next to post, instead of playing or doing some physical activities.
Where is real interaction? There is no real conversation between people. It’s all texting and sending emojis to each other. These are the emotional language now, sending happy, sad, laughing, and angry emojis. This is the biggest reason that the families are parting apart, earlier in the family dinners like Thanksgiving, friends, and family sit together for dinner, share their feelings and laughter. But now, it’s all about posting pictures of dinner items and waiting for likes and followers. They are sitting at the dinner table and everyone on their cell phones. Kids no longer share their problems with parents, they are in their different worlds. https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-mental-health
Suicide is the outcome of mental illness. In my experience, loneliness kills the person. Cases of suicide have increased exponentially in the past decade. The reason for suicide can be many, people commit suicide because of family abuse, sexual violence especially in those parts of the world, where law and order are always in favor of the rich and powerful party. People feel helpless and depressed, don’t know what to do, where to go. Especially poor girls who were victims of rapes and sexual molestation either by family members or by someone who had powers.https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/india-rape-victim-commits-suicide-in-india-after-the-accused-were-let-off-by-the-village-heads-with-five-slaps-each-1.1587983639781
Feeling of helplessness, physical trauma, and social pressure is a mental illness that resulted in suicides. Since I am talking about social pressure, it’s torture which had named as cultural pressure. There are many cases of honor killing witnessed all over the world. Why do people honor killing? It’s also a kind of mental illness, which has turned into violence and killing. https://www.meforum.org/2646/worldwide-trends-in-honor-killings
COVID19 pandemic has shaken the world. Millions of people lost their lives and their loved ones. To stop the spread of this disease, the government had put some guidelines like stay at home, lockdown, 6 feet apart social distancing, and quarantine regulations. Although these were meant to control the situation as a result of this, more cases of mental illness were diagnosed during this period. Fear of getting infected from COVID19, fearing losing a loved one has caused anxiety in people. Many people had panic attacks and anxiety episodes, while they were waiting for their results for COVID19. Those who were the frontline workers like health care workers and essential workers like truck drivers, grocery store workers were also going through this fear of getting infected. Kids were also suffering from the same kind of depression, as schools were closed, with no interaction with their teachers and friends. Even for parents, it was hard to keep them engaged all the time. They missed visiting their grandparents and other close relatives due to the lockdown. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/new-findings-children-mental-health-covid-19
People who were exposed and under quarantine, for them it was so devastating. Completely in isolation away from loved ones and family at the risk of their life is another kind of mental trauma for them. Old people living in nursing homes were also subjected to depression as they can not meet with their kids and grandparents as they were in a high-risk category of getting infected. It’s like a pandemic within a pandemic. Many people lost their jobs, financial insecurities have led to so many mental related problems like aggression, depression, and violence in the families especially black households
In the end, I would like to give some suggestions to improve mental health. During the time of COVID919, there should be tele counseling for patients regarding mental wellbeing for those who are waiting for test results, so that they don’t get panic attacks or anxiety attacks out of fear of getting infected. All the front-line workers and essential workers should be given some compensation in their salaries and proper personal protective equipment should be provided. Parents should monitor the activities of their kids on social media.
REFERENCES –
McLean Hospital. (2021, February 10). The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health. Retrieved from https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-mental-health
Evangeline Elsa, D. S. (2020, April 27). India: Rape victim commits suicide in India after the accused were let off by the village heads, with five slaps each. Retrieved from https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/india-rape-victim-commits-suicide-in-india-after-the-accused-were-let-off-by-the-village-heads-with-five-slaps-each-1.1587983639781
Chesler, P. (n.d.). Worldwide Trends in Honor Killings. Retrieved from https://www.meforum.org/2646/worldwide-trends-in-honor-killings
New Findings About Children’s Mental Health During COVID-19. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/new-findings-children-mental-health-covid-19
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