Mental Health is Health

I’ve been preparing for an exam practical in which I am to do a documentary or a television show. I was to cover the effects of school activities on the mental health of students, my focus being university students. I watched videos related to mental health issues on YouTube and I was shocked to see that a whole lot of young adults suffer from mental health issues like depression and the likes are those in institutions of learning. Up until some years back, the issue of mental health was not taken seriously, people that were seriously suffering from one mental health issue or the other could not come forward and talk about it because they probably thought they wouldn’t be understood or believed.

Source- NDTV- Dettol Banega Swasth Swachh India

Until recently, I had never really seen mental health issues associated with the stress students go through in school. It made me happy to see that a lot of people are openly discussing it on different media platforms but as we all know the importance of having your mental health in check cannot be overemphasized. Like many students, I too suffer from anxiety, especially in school. Anxiety comes in various ways. Some are as little overthinking, or getting anxious over an upcoming test or exam while others are as serious as a mental breakdown. I am faced with a problem, my mind can in no time imagine one thousand and one scenarios that can happen or the possible outcomes. For me this is how my anxiety works, my mind racing and thinking of all the possible things that could happen, it may not be as bad as others have it but it is what it is. I had a friend who was really down one time, she was always telling me how unhappy she was and as a friend I was there for her but a part of me thought she was maybe overreacting. The first half of the first semester of my third year was really overwhelming for me, there were moments I would burst into tears or literally be unhappy and not know why. Sometimes you never really know or understand what another person ongoing through until you are faced with something similar yourself.

I realised then that belittling or downplaying whatever issues people are going through because you think that your problems are more important or serious.