Falklands : World Mental Health Day in the Falklands
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 11.10.2006 (Article Archived on 25.10.2006)
The Falklands have observed World Mental Health Day on Tuesday, 10 October 2006.
WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY IN THE FALKLANDS
By J. Brock (Chairman MHSG)
And
Karen Chenery (Community Psychiatric Nurse)
The Falklands have observed Mental Health day - Tuesday 10th October - in a big way with the launch of a website as well as a media blitz to publicise the benefits of good mental health. World Mental Health Day was established in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health. It is a global event with many communities like St Helena and countries like the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Norway, Germany, France, Egypt, Chile, Austria, Zambia, Kuwait and other small countries taking part. Like St. Helena, this is the Falkland Islands first participation in World Mental Health Day.
World Mental health Day aims to promote mental wellbeing, promote a better understanding of mental health, raise awareness of mental health issues and prevent mental illness, and raise awareness of mental health issues and prevent discrimination against those who suffer from mental illness.
The term, “mental illness” describes many disorders including dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, self harm and addictions.
Mental illness has many causes - genetic makeup, life styles, personal choices, the quality of our relationships with others, luck and our fortune .i.e. our personal wealth, our economic and political security and the nature of the communities that we live in. Together all of these factors shape the opportunities and life choices available to us.
We can control and take responsibility for some of these aspects which effect our mental wellbeing, i.e. what we do with our lives, how we choose to live our lives, how we treat others and how we allow others to treat us.
There are many other areas of our lives that we can not control like genetic make up, or childhood experiences, e.g. family history of dementia, being abused or neglected, or loosing people we love through divorce or bereavement. Likewise we can influence but are not always able to control our environment, i.e. natural disasters or wars.
We can accept and understand that many areas of life are traumatic and can have an overwhelming effect on our psychological and emotional wellbeing and that often people will carry emotional scars and may need help to come to terms with what has happened to them.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) 2004 has recognised that mental illness is within the Top 5 causes of ill health and disability worldwide, this Top 5 list includes HIV; Obesity; Cancer & Cardiovascular Disease.
It is estimated that by 2020 mental illness will take over as the second greatest cause of ill health and disability worldwide, only surpassed by heart disease.
For example 1 in 4 people will suffer depression at some point in their lives.(WHO 2006) 1 million people will commit suicide each year. Accounting for more deaths each year by suicide than are killed by homicide, wars and terrorist attacks combined. (WFMH 2006) 1 in 10 young people in the UK will develop a mental health problem (Young Minds 2006) 1 in 10 elderly people over the age of 65 will develop dementia.
Locally, the Falkland’s population suffer from the full range of mental illnesses the same as every other country in the world. As a rural community we have slightly higher levels of depression and alcohol abuse, this is similar to other rural areas.
What we can do to maintain our mental wellbeing? We can find out what works for you to keep you mentally healthy, nurture and look after your own mental wellbeing, if you are aware that your mental health is compromised, seek help, recognise your own limitations, i.e. what you can deal with and when to seek help. show respect for those who suffer mental illness. No one enjoys ridicule or feeling excluded by others. It can make the difference between someone feeling brave enough to seek help, rather than suffer in silence or even attempt to end their own life.
For More Information:
In the Falklands we have now launched our own local mental health website at www.mhsg.co.fk This website will provide information on local issues, including the Health of the Nation – Mental Health Strategy for the Falkland Islands : Recommendations. The website will also tell you what help is available locally and who to contact, with useful links to other websites which have information on various mental health topics. The full Health of Nation - Mental Health Strategy document will be published on the website following approval by ExCo. Alternatively contact your GP or Karen at 28082 for more information.
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