L7 Becoming Mentally Healthy

• Perfect mental health means, therefore, that we must be in control of ourselves; have the ability to

  achieve self-determination through productivity as well as learning to efficiently cope with life

  stressors to be able to contribute 'good' to his community.
• Maintaining a positive and good mental health may involve the following:

  
  

  1. Be aware of ways to cope
  2. Connect with others and express yourself
  3. Be physically active
  4. Ask for professional help if needed
  5. Be positive despite the odds
  6. Rest and sleep
  7. Be benevolent
• Be aware of ways to cope – There are varied ways to manage our daily issues and pressures.

  Understanding that there are the appropriate measures and practicing them will allow an

  individual to be resilient and tolerant.
• Connect with others and express yourself – 'No man is an island'; we all need someone to talk

  to and provide us the boost to go on and confront our daily life struggles.
• Be physically active – Being busy and active does not only allow us to channel our energy to

  something good but it also provides us inner strength.
• Ask for professional health if needed – We cannot be a 'master of all'; no one has the capacity to be all-knowing. There are certain people who can help us out and achieve inner peace.
• Be positive despite the odds – Stressors, pressures, frustrations and failures exhaust the bodybut the spirit should continue with the fight by feeling and t hinking that everything is 'under control' and that everything will turn out for the best.
• Rest and sleep – An exhausted mind demands rest. It is through sleep that we heal. The next

  day will be a day to battle the imminent foes but strength is regained once the body and mind

  have achieved rest beforehand.
• Be benevolent – Be good to yourself and to others as well. The good that we perform will return a thousand folds. "What goes around comes around". Knowing that we have been good to others and to yourself bring us inner peace.
• The adolescence stage entails a lot of pressures and challenges to teenagers as they assume mature roles.

  If left unmanaged, these challenges may create a great impact on an individual's mental health and psychological well-being. Adolescents who succumb to these emotions may also fall prey to different

  harmful diversions as in the case of cyber addiction, delinquent behaviors, pre-marital sex, and substance abuse. The worst scenario for teenagers would be to commit suicide if things went out of hand.
• support system is essential as this will ensure that they are well-guided as they carefully go thru the

  stage.
• studies have identified mental health problems - in particular depression, as the largest cause of the burden of disease among young people. Poor mental health can have import effect on the wider health and development of adolescents and is association with several health and social outcomes such as higher alcohol, tobacco, and illicit substances use, adolescent pregnancy, school dropout, and delinquent behaviors. There is a growing consensus that healthy development during childhood and adolescence contributes to good mental health and can prevent mental health problems.
• Enhancing social skills, problem solving skills, and self confidence can help prevent mental health problems such as to conduct disorders, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and other risk behaviors, including those that relate to sexual behavior, substance abuse, and violent behavior. Health workers need to have the competencies to relate to young people, detect mental health problems early, and provide treatments that include counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy, and psychotropic medication. (World

  Health Organization, 2016)