Mental health, a principal priority

Mental health is increasingly taking a prominent place on the national agenda, as thankfully society is giving the matter more importance.

Studies are showing that more people are reporting instances of struggling with mental health. In Europe, nine million young people between the ages of 15 and 30 are believed to be suffering from mental health problems, according to Mental Health Europe (MHE).

Locally, teenagers and young adults have reported feelings of anxiety, sadness and depression, according to new data published by the Richmond Foundation. When asked what feelings they had experienced in the previous three months, 70% of participants reported feelings of anxiety, while 34.8% said they experienced anxiousness “very often”.

Females had the tendency to experience anxiousness, more often than males of the same age, as a significant 44% reported to be anxious “very often”. According to the Richmond Foundation CEO Stephania Dimech Sant, 420 respondents reported feelings of long-term anxiety, shedding light on the magnitude of the issue.

The same issue was also discussed earlier this year at the first annual conference organised by the Department of Mental Health at the University of Malta, as the need for a more holistic approach to the matter was one of the take-homes.

And probably, this is one of the principal keys to understanding and addressing this challenge which our society is facing. Mental health is a complex issue, which spreads across several areas, calling on a number of social players to collaboration. We cannot pin the responsibility of raising awareness and addressing matters of mental health on one sector of society. A healthy society ensures to have the proper structures in place, to help combat the elephant in the room, for the benefit of the longterm.

In a world of an unprecedented consumeristic drive, fuelled by social media, individuals are constantly being compared and measured up to impossible and unrealistic goals and ideals. We are constantly bombarded by messages by the media, which are surgically precise in their targeting, aimed at making us feel inadequate and prompting us to consume more and more.

The afore-mentioned survey, carried out by the Richmond Foundation, states that almost one in every three respondents, or 30%, reported having experienced lack of self-confidence as they compared themselves with their peers on social media.

Obviously, social media can be a great tool for encouragement and the promotion of personal growth, however, its immense powers need to be harnessed appropriately and conversely used to educate individuals, especially during their formative years. Malta still lacks proper wide-encompassing systems in place to address what the statistics are showing us so clearly.

We cannot stay silent or look the other way when we see more and more people succumbing to the cutthroat pace of the daily rat race, life has become of late. Sadly, we are witnessing life on our small island increasingly becoming a fast speed train, which is only concerned with the passengers capable of staying onboard. Anyone who falls off the train is condemned publicly or privately and the train speeds on no matter. The results of this are clear for everyone to see.

Scars from physical injury may be visible, but scars from episodes of mental health problems are often invisible, until it is too late. We cannot keep on waiting for the issues to manifest themselves – we need to create a culture of concern, which is supported by the right structures.

While a lot has already been done in this area, I believe government needs to make mental health a principal priority, to address these needs.

“According to the Richmond Foundation CEO Stephania Dimech Sant, 420 respondents reported feelings of long-term anxiety, shedding light on the magnitude of the issue.”