A Digital Magazine from IT Department

Mental Health Awareness-By Purva Jawanjal

Nowadays, students face new challenges, such as making independent decisions about their lives and studies, adjusting to the academic demands of an ill-structured learning environment, and interacting with a diverse range of new people. In addition, many students often for the first time, leave their homes and distance themselves from their support networks These challenges can affect the mental health and well-being of higher education students. Indeed, there is evidence that a strain on mental health is placed on students once they start at the university, and although it decreases throughout their studies it does not return to pre-university levels. Also, the probabilities of experiencing common psychological problems, such as depression, anxiety, and stress, increase throughout adolescence and reach a peak in early adulthood around age  which makes university students a particularly vulnerable population.

What is Mental Health ?

WHO has recently proposed that mental health is: … a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

Mental illnesses are common and universal. Worldwide, mental and behavioural disorders represented 11% of the total disease burden in 1990, expressed in terms of disability-adjusted life years. This is predicted to increase to 15% by 2020. Mental health problems also result in a variety of other costs to the society Depression was the fourth largest contributor to the disease burden in 1990 and is expected to be the second largest after ischaemic heart disease by 2020. Yet, mental illness and mental health have been neglected topics for most governments and societies. Recent data collected by WHO demonstrates the large gap that exists between resources that are available in countries for mental health and the burden caused by mental health problems.

What factors causes mental illness?

Most mental illnesses don’t have a single cause. Instead they have a variety of causes, called risk factors. The more risk factors you have, the more likely you are to develop a mental illness. Sometimes, the mental illness develops gradually. Other times, it doesn’t appear until a stressful event triggers it.

Mental illness often runs in the family. Living in a stressful environment can make you more likely to develop a mental illness. Things like living in poverty or having an abusive family put a lot of stress on your brain and often trigger mental illness. Even if you’re no longer in a stressful environment, things that happened to you as a child can have an impact later in life. Constantly putting yourself down or expecting the worst can get you stuck in a cycle of depression or anxiety. Mental illness involves an imbalance of natural chemicals in your brain and your body. Genetics is one of many risk factors that can contribute to mental illness. Your genes are passed down from your parents and ancestors, and they provide the blueprint for how your body and brain develop.

How can we overcome the problem of such illness?

There are various methods for managing mental health problems. Treatment is highly individual, and what works for one person may not work for another.Some strategies or treatments are more successful in combination with others. A person living with a chronic mental disorder may choose different options at various stages in their life.The individual needs to work closely with a doctor who can help them identify their needs and provide them with suitable treatment.

This type of treatment takes a psychological approach to treating mental illness. Psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, and some primary care physicians carry out this type of treatment.It can help people understand the root of their mental illness and start to work on more healthful thought patterns that support everyday living and reduce the risk of isolation and self-harm.Some people take prescribed medications, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anxiolytic drugs.Although these cannot cure mental disorders, some medications can improve symptoms and help a person resume social interaction and a normal routine while they work on their mental health.Some of these medications work by boosting the body’s absorption of feel-good chemicals, such as serotonin, from the brain. Other drugs either boost the overall levels of these chemicals or prevent their degradation or destruction.

Purva  Jawanjal IT(4TH YEAR)