World Mental Health Day
Learn more about Mental Health this World Mental Health Day
Today is ‘World Mental Health Day’
Every year on October 10th the UK participates in this international campaign which aims to increase for mental health education, raise awareness and fight the social stigma people with mental health conditions face.
This year the campaign is 31 years old and is focussing on the fact that Mental Health is a Universal Human Right.
Discussing mental health is commonplace these days, it’s on television, on tiktok, in lessons, in adverts. But sometimes we may be confusing our ‘emotional wellbeing’ with our ‘mental health’. As humans we are wired to experience a wide range of emotions, including joy, anger, humility, jealousy, happiness, excitement and anxiety.
Many people with a diagnosed mental illness still experience stigma, discrimination, are misunderstood and feared by people. As part of this years theme the WMHD foundation explain that “people with mental health conditions and those with psychosocial disabilities experience disproportionately higher rates of poor physical health and reduced life expectancy.”
In 2021 The Centre for Mental Health reported that “Poor mental health is exceptionally common in prison. 45% of adults in prison have anxiety or depression, 8% have a diagnosis of psychosis, and 60% have experienced a traumatic brain injury.”
The only way people with mental illness will experience less stigma and discrimination is by raising awareness, people challenging the systems, and crucially investment and transformation of mental health services.
Wearing a green ribbon shows your support for this campaign.