Mental health matters

The World Mental Health Day was a week ago and I keep thinking about how mental health disorders are becoming more and more common. However, I still believe there's a stigma around it, and in my experience;

• People with mental health disorders, me being one of them, can feel embarrassed to admit it to their families, friends, colleagues, and managers. Why? Because we think we will be judged by it and any merit we achieve in our personal and professional lives will be damaged by the fact we suffer from depression, anxiety, or other disorders.
• Mental health is a disease we can't see whether a broken leg is easily visible to others, so it is harder to make others believe you are struggling with mental health. A colleague told me a bit ago: that we should all carry a paper in our heads saying we are not doing well, and it seems to me more reasonable every time.
• Some people—not all—will think you won't get better, so you shouldn't be trusted or given more opportunities to move forward in life.

Sadly, I believe that the statistics of people suffering from such conditions are higher than what the data shows, which so far is already worrying. I was able to find a report shared by the World Health Organization and here I have summarized some of the points that make me think I should have a part in helping the people struggling with it.

• Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 970 million people were living with mental disorders. Almost 60% because of Anxiety and Depressive disorders
• The World Health Organization states that people with severe mental health conditions die 10 to 20 years earlier than the general population.
• Unemployment and especially loss of employment are known risk factors for suicide attempts.
• Negative working environments are associated with a greater risk of developing depression, anxiety, and work-related stress.
• Even climate change has an impact on mental health: Extreme weather events – including tropical storms, floods, mudslides, heatwaves, and wildfires – have increased by at least 46% since 2000. All of them can result in depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other stress-related conditions for many of those affected.
• Suicide accounts for more than one in every 100 deaths globally, and for every death by suicide, there are more than 20 suicide attempts. In 2019, around 703,000 people of all ages lost their lives to suicide. 58% of these suicides happened to people before the age of 50.
• Even with all this data, the WHO claims that only 2% of the health budget goes to mental health.

All these numbers can be found here World mental health report 2022

I hope this small article helps you to understand that whether you have or not a mental disorder, you can always help in different ways, and informing yourself is the first of the steps.

For me 2024 has been a year of realization. A year in which, I want to show true commitment to help. I always wanted. Ever since I went to a colleague, I still remember the first thing I said in my dean: My goal is to, someday, have NGO to help people". After graduated, I ended up working in the corporate world. Now, 7 years later, I'm still working in business but in a purpose-driven company. However, some months ago I realized I wanted to start doing something else in parallel. The reason why, I have committed as a personal goal to become a Coach.

I know it will be some time until I'm a certified Coach. Lord, I'm not even close to defining my next steps, but at least I know that in a few years, I want to have the proper tools to help everyone around me.

I want to take this article as my first step to make a commitment with myself, and in the meantime if anyone reads this and is looking for some friendly advice, or maybe you have the same interest than me, do not hesitate in contact me.