When you or someone around you is dealing with a mental health concern, it’s challenging to help yourself or others. Often we ignore emotional problems which piled up and later becomes mental illness. Mental illness is so stigmatized that people often avoid taking professional help until it becomes unmanageable. It’s important to remember that mental health is essential to everyone’s overall health and well-being, and mental illnesses are common. Mental illnesses are preventable, treatable and manageable. Yet, people avoid or cover up symptoms of a potential mental health problem.One in every four people are affected by a mental disorder at some stage of life.
According to WHO, around 450 million people currently suffer from mental illness worldwide. In India, National Mental Health Survey conducted in 2015 revealed that at any point in time,around 15 crores people are in need of active interventions for mental illnesses. Another study conducted by Charlson, Baxter, Cheng, Shidhaye & Whiteford in 2016
projected the burden of mental disorders to increase by 23% in India between 2013 and 2025 which clearly indicates that urgency of the problem. World Mental Health Day is celebrated on October 10 all over the world to raise awareness and end stigma attached to mental illness. This year’s theme for World Mental Health Day is “Young people and Mental Health in Changing World—is a call to generate awareness, encourage people to adopt positive lifestyle and end stigma towards mental illness.
Bharatiya Counselling Psychology Association (BCPA) is celebrating Mental Health Awareness Week to educate people about the importance of good mental health for everyone, habits and behaviours that reduce the risk of developing or exacerbating mental illnesses and to end stigma related to mental health. Dr. Apurva Kumar Pandya, Psychologist and Executive Board Member, BCPA said, “We need to educate youth on importance of mental health, early signs of mental illnesses and where to seek professionals’ help. It is mental health professionals’responsibility to offer compassionate, non-judgmental and safe space that allow them to come forward, share their concerns and help them overcome their problem.”
“It is important to understand early symptoms of mental illness and timely psycho-educational, counselling or psychotherapeutic intervention can prevent mental illnesses,” said Dr. Ashutosh Srivastava, President, BCPA. In this context, BCPA’s trained counselling and clinical psychologists’ are providing information about mental health though articles, videos, and free psychological consultations over email or FB message from October 8 to 13, 2018. People can visit BCPA’s Fb page and send their query.Our member would provide consultation. BCPA News