A Beautiful Mind
I know you are having a busy day and steering through rough seas. Take a quick pause please and do yourself a favor. I wanted to share something important. I hope my thoughts reaches you and helps you wade through the battles and struggles of your life. In the last 10 years I have been a strong advocate of Mental Health and raise awareness about the "silent killer". I will continue to do so to help people with my words, may be you can do so too and spark joy for someone near and dear.
A leaking faucet, a wiring fault or a dysfunctional gadget at times are beyond our capability to fix them and get it working again. In our home, there are times when things aren’t working well and it tends to throw life out of gear if not fixed on time. We then reach out to a professional who can help us fix these for us. We call a plumber to fix a leaking faucet or an electrician to fix a connection. In our life, at times, as well we tend to arrive at situations which are beyond our “fixing range”. I call them moments-that-test-the-real-steel. As in the movie Real Steel, it took Atom the robot to mend a former boxer-turned-struggling-promoter (Charlie, played by Hugh Jackman) to get back on his feet when the bout of life had taken a toll on Charlie. I have seen that reaching out for support and guidance or even just talking about your issues with your support programs and people helps to understand and help you take steps to a better understanding of life and things around in general, get a perspective and lead a fulfilling life. As someone who has reached out to people for help, I can say confidently that it helped me pick myself up and get “back in the ring” again with renewed vigor. I know its ok to reach out to people and I urge that you should too or help someone reach out should they need support. I wrote this blog back in 2014 and it still is relevant in 2020. Re-sharing in these times to help you fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee!
Prologue: Mens sana in corpore sano is a Latin aphorism, usually translated as "A sound mind in a sound body”, the phrase comes from the poem Satire X of the Roman poet Juvenal who lived around 1st Century AD. Two thousand years on, the Modern Civilization is yet to really understand his ubiquitous thought. India is set to become the youngest country by 2020 and in about six years, the median individual in India will be 29 years. 64 per cent of our population will be in the working age group and that’s mind boggling considering a billion plus number we are at in human resources. Aristotle once remarked “Good habits formed at youth makes all the difference”. But what if the youth is marred by a mental illness which goes unchecked for decades?
Wake up call: Billions of dollars are being spent on improving the Health sector which primarily targets the so called Key health Parameters like Life expectancy at birth, Child Nutrition, fertility rate and sex ratio. Mental Health usually finds no mention. It’s no surprise that recently the experts called for global mental health objectives to be included among the United Nations' post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and for a special UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on Mental Health by 2017. Published in the journal Global Health Action, the declaration was authored by 13 experts and others from eight countries earlier this year. This is a significant wakeup call to this prevalent condition the society is facing today especially the youth.
Facing the truth: “Whats your poison?” asked my friend who loved having a good time with his pals over a drink. Few years ago, his Bi-polar diagnosis was a shock for most of us who knew him as we thought his drinking was more of having a good time than substance abuse. That evening I did some web research and I was numbed to read what people go through when affected by this dis-order. Hypomania, depressive episodes, excessive money spending, reduced attention & executive capabilities, difficulties in getting sleep, increased probability of substance abuse, erratic behavior and impaired memory. The list was endless and all of which each one of us face throughout our lifetime in some mild form or the other. The only major difference is that people with the disorder would not be able to control it even if they were aware of the episode they are experiencing. The mind just does not let you control or logically reason out of it. Eight years have passed by that incident and with the support of an exceptionally loving wife, three children, his parents and few close friends, he is still going strong. I am so proud of him. He had the option to go on disability and stay at home, however he chose to brave on and continue his work with a very co-operative employer who have the record of encouraging people with different abilities and provide conducive work environment. His dream of owning his own business, an automotive workshop remains intact despite the hardships he faces every single day.
What is it: National Alliance on Mental Illness a US based organization describes a mental illness as a medical condition that disrupts a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life. Serious mental illnesses include major depression, schizophrenia, substance use disorder, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder. The good news about mental illness is that recovery is possible. Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion or income. Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. Most people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience relief from their symptoms by actively participating in an individual treatment plan approved by various experts in this domain.
What we can do: The first step is awareness, like how we made people aware of AIDS. Unless people like you and me are made aware of these illness and the conditions associated with them the stigma will never end and human rights violations inflicted on mental health patients would continue to be on the rise. Once we make people aware the second step would be to reach out to people experiencing mental health issues and make them believe that society is not going to ostracize them. Just like I do not get discriminated if I have flu, I work towards resolving the issue by either taking an OTC drug or see a doctor. Helplines 24x7 who are ready to discuss, assist our friends and help them understand the symptoms and the illness and discuss issues anonymously is another lifeline. The word psychiatrist still hits the wrong chord. This outlook has to change. Seeing a psychiatrist helps as he specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. As per WHO 75 per cent of those suffering from mental disorders in developing countries receive no medical attention at all. If you try to talk about the issue it is most of the times met with the same stony silence reserved for people with such disorders. The next step thus would be to talk about it, among your family members, friends, and colleagues at work, share stories and challenges that someone they know faced and remove the taboo. Debates on TV news channels could be another media where for a change we take a moment off from religion or politics and talk about issues like mental health challenges faced by the youth. We need to stop brushing them under the carpet. The increasing globalization in a nation like India brings along with it an unexpected by-product: a world-sized case of stress. The youth sometimes are engulfed in this dangerous cocktail of hormones, stress and lack of access to what I call mental health screening. When you join the Military you are screened by a Psychiatrist, the same needs to be adopted at multiple strata in the society like higher educational institutions, workplaces which increases the chance of detection. A timely detected mental health issue is the best opportunity to get help and bring the illness and its side effects down to bare minimum. Multiple programs like Employee Assistance Program, Sahyog, RAW, Inclusion & Diversity week by companies like SAP are just the right steps we need to build on an ideal environment for the youth to rise and shine devoid of any stress and undue pressure.
Epilogue: As famous Noble laureate John Forbes Nash puts it “The only thing greater than the power of the mind is the courage of the heart”. I ask this question to myself today. Do I have the courage to really make an honest unprejudiced attempt to try to understand a beautiful mind and make him feel at home in my life, society and workplace? I look deep inside and around me and the optimist me finds an answer, all is not lost. The winds of change have started blowing already.