Undervaluation of Metal Health

When someone mentions Health, what comes to mind are unharmed organs and
unbroken bones. When someone mentions health, what comes to mind are trained
doctors and professional surgeons. When someone mentions health, what comes to
mind are sharp needles and thick gauze. When health is mentioned, what comes to
mind is physical health even when mental health is just as important. Just as former
US senator had noted: We take our kids for physical vaccinations, dental exams, eye
checkups. When do we think to take our - our son or daughter for a mental health
checkup?

Mental health has been, and still is severely undervalued compared to physical health.
Many teachers and parents dont even recognize mental illnesses such as anxiety as
problems worth taking care of. Imagine waking up in the morning have to stay home
due to a mild cold. Then imagine waking up in the morning feeling like death is more
desirable than getting out of bed, imagine have your innards twist and turn with panic
and anxiety, but still being forced to go to school by a parent or guardian. Ignorance
towards mental disorders has led those in need of support into despair and misery.
Ignorance towards mental disorders and illness has forced those who need help to take
matter into their own hands through either self harm, substance abuse, alcohol abuse,
or a dangerous combination of all three.

According to the U.S. Health and Human Services, mental health includes our
emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how one thinks and feels,
and acts. It also helps determine how well stress is handled, others are related to, and

choices are made. Mental health is important to every stage of life, from childhood
through adolescence and adulthood. One in four adultsapproximately 61.5 million
Americansexperience a mental illness every year. Twenty percent of youths thirteen
to eighteen experience severe mental illness, such as major depression or bipolar
disorder, in a given year. Mood disorders like depression are third most common
cause for hospitalization among teens and adults eighteen to forty-four years of age.
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the US, almost double the amount of
deaths cause by homicide, more than ninety percent of which suffer from one or more
mental illness.

We are allowing them to take care of themselves.

Once the facts have been laid out so boldly, so blatantly, so brazenly, so bare, it is
indisputably clear that mental health should no longer be ignore and belittled. Mental
health is just as important as physical health; in fact, mental health is in close relations
to physical health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as: a state of
complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity. The WHO states that there is no health without mental health.
A New York City Community Health Survey done back in 2003 reveals people who
report significant emotional distress are three times more likely to experience poor
general health. Those distressed experience high rates of many chronic conditions
such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, asthma, and diabetes that put
them at risk for early death.

It is never too late to help promote mental health. What we can do to prevent any

more people from getting hurt is by educating ourselves and those around us on the
topic of mental health and mental disorders. Already, more and more people are
becoming aware of the significance of mental health among the lives of other. All
around you are people who have suffered and/or know someone who have suffered
from a mental disorder. By spreading the word, by taking the time out of our lives to
talk to someone about this issue indicates that you care about this issue. We cant help
everyone, but everyone can help someone. Everything little thing that is done makes a
difference, whether it is a brief compliment on a strangers appearance, or a warm,
snug hug for your friend. One of the best ways to boost the mental health of those
around you is to actively show the people around you that they mean something to
you, that you care.

Still, many still think mental health inferior to physical health care due to physical
heath being more black and white compared to mental healths many shades of gray.
Correspondingly, mental health has a direct correlation to physical health. The World
Health Organization (WHO) defines health as: a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The WHO
states that there is no health without mental health. A New York City Community
Health Survey done back in 2003 reveals people who report significant emotional
distress are three times more likely to experience poor general health. Those
distressed experience high rates of many chronic conditions such as high cholesterol,
high blood pressure, obesity, asthma, and diabetes that put them at risk for early death.
W. H. Auden has said: We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the
others are here for I don't know. So while we are all on this earth, help those around
you while subsequently helping yourself.

We, all of us, can help those that are suffering around us, we can pull someone back
from the brink of destruction, and we can even pull someone out of the nadir on their
life just by actively caring. And to those that are suffering, let Persephone remind you
that even in the darkest most cruelest place known to mortal men, someone as delicate
and out of place as her could became to be as powerful as a god.