It has been noticeable that this year more attention has been focusing on mental health in many populations especially in European countries.

Our relation to the topics that deal with health is, usually, curiosity, interest in finding new advice or a comforting and clever story about treating a health problem, be it headache, obesity, coronary diseases and so on. Have you noticed how you feel when you see an article or listen to a story about some mental disease? We usually become not as curious as reading about other health topics. We feel slight discomfort and maybe even fear. Mental disease is often still stigmatised by people generally. But, mental health issues can affect any of us at any time in our lives. This is why it is high time to put the mental health, at least, on a par with physical health.

We cannot close our eyes to the presence of this problem that affects a significant number of people. According to the European Commission statistics, 14% of hospital beds in EU are psychiatric patients’ beds while 7% of the population have reported chronic depression symptoms.

There is no time to wait; the call for action is there. Every vulnerable group in every country, region or community needs to be included in the promotion of programmes aimed at prevention and/or treatment of a mental health issues in some way. Schools are the first and obvious places where overall health, physical and mental programmes should be promoted and encouraged. Our youth is exposed to different and new types of pressures than previous generations. In addition to the pressures of growing-up, education, parental and societal expectations and peer relations; young people today have to deal with issues such as cyberbullying and other connected effects of the social media age which can often lead to mental health problems.

Young families and early days of parenting require much more attention and care than we all wish to admit. Trauma from this dramatic period often stays long and causes many disturbances in relationships in many cases leaving long-lasting mental health issues for both parents and children.

Ageing and worsening of the ability to move, work, think and live independently leads to a number of mental problems, mainly anxiety, depression and dementia.

For each of us our own mental health as well as of our closest relatives and friends should be our responsibility. To open up and connect with people around us is a nice thing to do and this helps us stay mentally vital and in positive state of mind. Besides exercise programmes, walking in the fresh air or chats over a cup of coffee or tea, there are many nice things we can do in company. Try singing, dancing, or some other stimulating activity. Pay more attention to mental health and help yourself and people around you keeping a big smile for long time

Source:

https://ec.europa.eu/health/non_communicable_diseases/mental_health/eu_compass_en