World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2023
“Our minds, our rights"
World Mental Health Day 2023 is an opportunity for people and communities to unite behind the theme ‘Mental health is a universal human right” to improve knowledge, raise awareness and drive actions that promote and protect everyone’s mental health as a universal human right.
Mental health is a basic human right for all people. Everyone, whoever and wherever they are, has a right to the highest attainable standard of mental health. This includes the right to be protected from mental health risks, the right to available, accessible, acceptable, and good quality care, and the right to liberty, independence and inclusion in the community.
Good mental health is vital to our overall health and well-being. Yet one in eight people globally are living with mental health conditions, which can impact their physical health, their well-being, how they connect with others, and their livelihoods. Mental health conditions are also affecting an increasing number of adolescents and young people.
Having a mental health condition should never be a reason to deprive a person of their human rights or to exclude them from decisions about their own health. Yet all over the world, people with mental health conditions continue to experience a wide range of human rights violations. Many are excluded from community life and discriminated against, while many more cannot access the mental health care they need or can only access care that violates their human rights.
Importance of World Mental Health Day
As we all know, an individual's mental health plays a vital role in shaping a healthy society and nation. It is imperative to have the mental and physical health to achieve a good and balanced life. Recent unprecedented global events like the COVID pandemic and Wars have brought a global crisis for mental health, affecting lakhs of people worldwide, which definitely requires the attention and active participation of the organizations and policymakers worldwide to help fight against the treatment gap and facilities needed to support mental health.
World Mental Health Day plays a crucial role in bringing people together to support each other to fight mental health issues by organizing various awareness campaigns and urging others to participate and make use of the opportunity to understand the value of mental health in their surroundings. It also enables global platforms for the affected people to connect with various concerned communities to share their thoughts and be vocal about their suffering and required action to be taken to support others.
World Mental Health Day 2023 Theme
This year 2023, the World Mental Health Day theme is “Mental health is a universal human right”, a reminder call to everyone worldwide to create awareness, improve knowledge, drive actions that promote and safeguard everyone’s mental health as a universal human right.
Year by year, the themes for World Mental Health Day are:
- World Mental Health Day 2022 Theme: Make Mental Health & Well-Being for All a Global Priority
- World Mental Health Day 2021 Theme: Mental health care for all: let’s make it a reality
- World Mental Health Day 2020 Theme: Move for mental health: Increased investment in mental health
- World Mental Health Day 2019 Theme: Focus on Suicide Prevention
- World Mental Health Day 2018 Theme: Young people and mental health in a changing world
History of World Mental Health Day
World mental health day was first organized on October 10, 1992, by World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization having a presence in more than 150 countries. The initiative was proposed by Richard Hunter, Deputy Secretary General of the World Federation for Mental Health, in 1992.
Till 1994 the day was observed without any specific theme; it was mainly focused on educating people about the general issues of mental health. Later in 1994, based on Eugene Brody suggestions, then Secretary General of the World Federation for Mental Health, the day was celebrated based on the theme and the theme for the year 1994 was "Improving the Quality of Mental Health Services throughout the World". Since then, World Federation for Mental Health has announced a particular theme to promote and educate people about mental health issues, its preventions and supports to create a better opportunity for mentally affected people.
Preventive Tips & Effective ways to promote Mental Health Awareness
- Be Vocal and have open mindset towards Mental Health Issues.
- Keep yourself informed about the warning Signs and Symptoms of Mental Illnesses. Some of the prominent indications includes changes in sleep and eating patterns, persistent sadness, antisocial behaviour and mood changes.
- Be kind and compassionate towards other
- Don't hesitate to avail and promote free mental health screening
- Participate in Awareness campaign and support the cause
- Learn and implement proper healthy lifestyle to improve the mental wellbeing of your family and yourself.
- Encourage and support the affected one to get diagnosed and avail proper mental health programs based on their signs and symptoms.
- Sources :
- World Mental Health Day 2023 (who.int)
