Whenever we get fever or any other illness we take medicines promptly, but do we take medicine for having a depression? The answer is no. I know 90 percent of the people have something in life which give them acute depression, anxiety or stress, which we neglect knowingly or unknowingly. In developing economy like India, mental health is considered as a luxury good, and if you are suffering from anxiety, depression or mental breakdown, the people around you will think you are a pseudo-intellectual person having all the basic needs satisfied but still you are fussing for some mere negligible unfulfilled things. Keeping in mind the significance of mental health World Mental health Day is celebrated every year on 10th October. The theme of World Mental Health Day 2023 is 'Mental health is a universal human right’.

Take care of your mental health. If you have doubt call anyone loud, and that’s all!!

What is the meaning of mental health?
Mental health literally means the emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It actively affects how we think, feel, and act. It helps to determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. If you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected.

Factors contribute to mental health conditions:
• Biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry
• Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse
• Family history of mental health problems

Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is a mental illness that interferes with a person’s life and ability to function. Having an SMI is not a choice, a weakness, or a character flaw, which is not something that just passes or can be snapped out of with willpower. Antisocial personality disorder, Anxiety disorders, Bipolar disorder, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Schizophrenia are few of the serious mental health conditions which need to be taken a good care.

Mind-body Dualism
Philosopher René Descartes has beautifully showed the intertwining of mind and body through his thesis ‘mind-body dualism’. The theory ‘Mind’ and ‘Body’ dualism represents the metaphysical stance that mind and body are two distinct substances, each with a different essential nature. But they have a connection or common link through the soul if the connection is not balanced; any of the entities get disturbed at once.

Mental health is crucial in every stage of life, it can affect you any day, anywhere whether you are in your sweet sixteen or sucking sixty or else sensitive seventy.

Always see the bright side of life! Hope for it and achieve.
According to WHO, a good mental health is an essential component of overall wellbeing. But, since the disease affects the mind, this is understandable to a certain extent but, at the same time, it doesn’t make it too much important for all. Mental health is an underserved cause in international aid for the same reasons it is still a taboo topic in most countries. In case of physical diseases, we separate the illness from the person, but in case of mental disease it’s more difficult to do so because in most of the cases the patient doesn’t know what is wrong with him/her.

In countries like India, consultation about the mental health issues is still considered a social stigma due to which people avoid seeking treatment for mental ailments. On the other hand, in developing nations, maximum of the focus remains on control and prevention of infectious diseases, while mental health issues take a back sit in the row of importance.

Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “World Mental Health Day is an opportunity for the world to come together and begin redressing the historic neglect of mental health.” According to the report of Centers for disease Control and prevention (CDC), more than 50% of the people will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime.” On the contrary, reports and surveys of medical system brought up that countries spend on average only 2percent of their health budgets on mental health.

Innovation on mental health
Though most of us don’t think about the mental health diseases if we do not have such cases with our relatives family or ourselves. We are not able to realize that these small invisible issues have pretty tangible consequences. Now with the technological advancement, medical science has become very progressive. Many startups have come up with innovative ideas catering the mental issues.

Neuphony made a unique wearable device for brain, which uses EEG based neuro-feedback to monitor your brain waves and then based on the collected data they recommend the right medications and treatment for your brain. It guides you with the right meditations, music or breathing techniques after analyzing focus, mood and stress levels on their mobile app. It takes care of the mental wellbeing by making you calm, focused, and proactive by uplifting your mood.

Meditopia is a mental health platform focused on coaching and meditation. It is an application based platform and today there are over 30M+ users over 120 countries. The users are provided a personalized program accessible on the app, and can also choose to meet with a mental health coach.

Spring Health is a B2B mental health startup specifically focused on employee wellbeing, which is based on machine learning, where the company is able to match employees with a care plan that meets their needs.

NUE Life Health is a mental wellness company that offers ketamine therapy to treat mental health disorders including depression, anxiety and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The startup has delivered mental wellbeing through over 22.5K treatments to date since their inception in 2020.

Heart It Out is a Bengaluru based company that provides therapeutic services, products, workshops, and events that are thoughtfully curated to highlight the importance of self-care and tackle the stigma associated to mental health in urban settings.

Conclusion
The impact of COVID-19 on mental health has created a rise in global concern as emerging statistics compared pre-pandemic data to the devastating impacts that COVID-19 has on mental health. Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, mandated that every insurer to make provision for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as available for treatment of physical illnesses. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) should strictly regulate the rules and noncompliance or violation of rule should be rewarded with heavy penalty. Approximately close to 1 billion people has been suffering from mental illness. 3 million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol and one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide. Observing a separate day for mental health can foster the idea of mental health and they will pay much attention to this issue.

We need to increase the awareness of mental health because it is still perceived as a luxury good, whenever it comes to international aid, mental health struggles to attract donations also because of a marketing issue. As we know Charity begins at home, the first treatment can be started at home, by talking and counseling the people in distress. Try to reach out to them talk to them and be patient. He/She can be of any age like if your kid is facing some problem in school or anywhere make sure you will be the strongest support system to take him/her out of that problem, so that it doesn’t turn into a trauma for the lifetime.

Dr. Ingrid Daniels, President of the World Federation for Mental Health said “ It is nearly 30 years since the first World Mental Health Day was launched by the World Federation for Mental Health, during that time, we have seen an increasing openness to talk about mental health in many countries of the world. But now we must turn words into actions. We need to see concerted efforts being made to build mental health systems that are appropriate and relevant for today’s – and tomorrow’s - world.”