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October 17, 2011 at 3:01 PM

My Personal Best Steering Group member and Young Ambassador, Amanda, has written an article about World Mental Health Day and eating disorders, which took place on 10th October 2011.

My Personal Best and Beat celebrated World Mental Health Day on Monday October 10th 2011 in order to raise awareness of prevention, the stigma and the insubstantial treatment facilities and resources associated with mental illnesses. The World Health Organisation (WHO) who creates the annual event this year focused on the theme of “Investing in Mental Health”. They specifically highlight the importance of the economic impact of mental illnesses due to inadequate amount of funding facilitating treatment and prevention programmes. This is truly shocking when confronted with the statistics:154 million people in the world suffer from depression.

Why should we invest in mental health?

Owing to the recent economic turmoil many people might be reluctant to devote time, money and effort into coping with the growing amount of people suffering mental health problems. Shouldn’t we be concentrating on physical illnesses such as heart disease or cancer?  Mental health costs to society and the government are far too substantial for mental illnesses to be ignored. As a nation we cannot afford to ignore the increasing strains of mental health services across the UK. The problem is widespread not just in the UK but all over the world. The WHO statistics show that low –to-middle income countries spend less than 2% of their health budget on mental health. It should be seen as a ‘humanitarian right’ that mental health services should be given as much priority for funding as physical illnesses. We are significantly affected by absenteeism because of mental illnesses. Therefore we lose human capital and are not productively efficient.  Not investing in sufficient mental health services is not just a problem that will go away; it is chronic and long lasting. If people don’t get the right treatment early in the onset of their mental disorder it proves difficult to recover from in addition increasing the strain on services in the long run. In extreme but sadly not uncommon cases we lose people to mental illnesses which could have been avoided.

Are eating disorders mental illnesses?

When asked this on the Beat Facebook page needless to say it got a lot of you talking. From the 23 responses to this question people all answered No as people do not realise that eating disorders are actually a mental illness. One comment that is particularly fitting into the theme “Investing in Mental Health” is “Sadly many don’t [realise eating disorders are mental illnesses], just think if they did how many more people could be helped and make full recovery”.  Another person talks about the severity of the nature of eating disorders, “I think people around you only realise it's an illness when it's too late.” Taking these comments and others into account we should act upon society’s perceptions and stigma associated with mental health issues. We can’t afford to realise until it’s too late we need to help raise awareness of eating disorders that they are serious and life threatening. The common misconception of eating disorders is the skinny model type refusing to eat when it’s so much more than that. One person comments that “It’s not just about eating, it about self-worth, low self-esteem, depression…it’s only the severe cases that people take notice of. It’s a massive problem it can be an invisible illness that no one sees. It’s not talked about and sometimes seen as something to be ashamed of and that the sufferer could stop if they wanted this is not the case… It IS a mental illness and it needs to be recognised and not brushed under the carpet”.

People with mental illnesses are a vulnerable group of society who deserve the right health care. We are responsible to raise awareness of mental illnesses as they all are serious and life threatening. We need to raise awareness of the social costs of losing friends and family and not having an inclusive diverse society.  The economic costs are considerable as there are inadequate resources and services available to mental health sufferers. Not only should we focus on these specific types of services but also problems linked to why a person may experience mental health problems such as homelessness, bereavement or substance abuse. The WHO summaries; “a robust rationale should exist for recognizing mental disorders as a public health priority” and to employ “feasible, affordable and cost-effective measures for mental disorders”.

What can I do to follow on from World Mental Health day?

There are many ways in which we can improve perceptions of mental illnesses.

• Raise awareness of mental illnesses. Ask yourself and others what they think the criteria is for being diagnosed for a mental illness and if they bare any resemblance to the stereotype associated with it.
• Campaign for Beat and My personal best in order to spread the message to sufferers, carers and the public that eating disorders are incredibly serious. They are not just a fad diet but affect every aspect of the sufferer not just physically but mentally even more so.
• Campaign for better funding into community mental health facilities in your local area. Are they adequate? If not why not? We deserve adequate treatment for all kinds of illnesses.
• Campaign for more facilities and resources available to young people and vulnerable members of society.
• Most importantly we all need to work towards changing the stigma attached to mental illnesses. It’s become increasingly common to be diagnosed with mental illnesses, why should we be ashamed? We are who we are. We should embrace life even though sometimes we think it’s against us. Eating disorders and other mental illnesses CAN and WILL be beaten!

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