Md. Arafat Rahman: Health is the root of all happiness. When the body is not good, we become mentally ill and mentally broken, which is manifested through our behavior. In real life, it is possible to maintain mental well-being through positive emotional states and emotional satisfaction. There is a lack of awareness about mental health in our country, so every human being must have an idea about protecting mental health. World Mental Health Day has been celebrated every year since 1992 as a day of mental health education and awareness for all over the world.
Mental health is the provision of a healthy state of mind and body and harmony with the environment. According to psychologists, all human behavior is purposeful. At the root of this purposeful behavior are some demands. Only when a person accepts all the problems and crises of real life and fulfills his needs through struggle, mental satisfaction is gained and the provision of harmony is possible. Mental health is protected through this successful provision.
And if for some reason a person cannot meet or satisfy his needs, then a negative emotional state is seen. This caused agitation. This agitation creates the emotional conflict that manifests itself through human behavior. Thus it can be seen that when human needs are achieved, provision of compatibility with the environment is possible and mental health is protected. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is maintained only when a person is mentally, physically and socially healthy and happy.
WHO defines mental health as a person who is mentally healthy can understand his or her own abilities, adapt to the natural pressures of life, and contribute to society at all levels. People can become physically ill at any time. The mind has an interrelationship with the body. If the body is not good, the mind is not good. As a result of interacting with various stimuli in the environment, our minds sometimes become happy and sometimes sad. So it is difficult to find a person who is always mentally healthy.
Mental health features are: 1. Physical and growth development: If you want to keep a good mind, you must be physically healthy. On the other hand, in order to adapt to the environment on all sides, one must have the ability to think and judge. 2. Self-confidence: One of the characteristics of mental health is to have a strong heart and self-confidence. 3. Adapting to the situation: People with mental health do not lag behind anywhere in life. They are very strong-hearted. Because of their mental strength, they can cope with any environment. 4. Full self-satisfaction: One of the characteristics of mental health is self-satisfaction. A person’s complete self-satisfaction is a sign of mental health. 5. Awareness of one’s needs: A person with good mental health is always aware of the level of his needs. He does not want to be unhappy by creating unrealistic needs. 6. Possessing the power of self-assessment.
Mental health complications are mental disorders. It is widely associated with a person’s behavior, which in most cases is naturally self-defeating and incoherent. This behavior is harmful to individuals and society. The disease manifests itself in several types of debilitating conditions or symptoms. In addition, these symptoms can manifest as mental or physical symptoms or both. Although many people in Bangladesh are suffering from various mental illnesses, this disease is the most neglected in Bangladesh. The prevalence of this disease in Bangladesh is probably almost equal to other developed countries.
Mental illness can be divided into different ways. Mental illness is characterized by abnormality in thinking, feeling, and behavior. Such an illness makes a person unfit to work in society. In the case of a psychotic patient, insight does not work and the ability to perceive real problems is lost. Abnormalities of thinking in such patients cause confusion. In these patients, a conscious feeling or hallucination usually occurs due to the absence of any appropriate external stimuli. People with such complications in Bangladesh are often referred to as insane.
There are usually two types of psychosis – physical and functional. Obvious abnormalities in the brain and other bodily systems are observed in the case of physical psychosis. Complications of physical psychosis are fatal or chronic. Symptoms of cerebral palsy include loss of consciousness and memory, speech and thinking disorders.
Schizophrenia and dementia are two important functional psychosis. The word schizophrenia comes from the Greek language. It means splitting the mind. That is, chaos or lack of communication. Misconceptions, hallucinations, incoherent speech, incoherent behavior and negative perceptions are seen in patients with schizophrenia. About one-fifth of all mental health patients in Bangladesh suffer from schizophrenia. Psychiatric disorders are equally observed in both men and women in Bangladesh.
Neurosis is an emotional complication that manifests itself primarily through anxiety. Neurosis is less severe than psychosis. The neurotic sufferer’s social relationships hamper. Unrealistic and inconsistent fears or anxieties are considered to be the main cause of such complications. Anxiety complications include: panic, fear, general anxiety complications, paranoid complications, post-traumatic stress disorder, and more.
Mental retardation is the degenerative intelligence caused by the defective development of the brain. Lack of intelligence from childhood, short and slow mental development during adolescence, impaired learning ability and poor behavioral and social adaptation are some of the symptoms. It is a disability, but not a disease. Mental health care is underdeveloped in Bangladesh. The official care and treatment of the mentally ill in the country began in 1957 with the establishment of a sixty-bed mental hospital in Pabna.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University started a postgraduate course on psychiatry. In order to expand mental health services in rural areas of Bangladesh, arrangements have been made to train Upazila Medical Officers and health workers on mental health in Dhaka. A National Institute of Mental Health has been established in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka.
There are a small number of psychiatrists for the large population of the country. In 1995, the Department of Psychology, Dhaka University launched a three-year postgraduate training course in clinical psychology with international standards and principles. The Department of Clinical Psychology was established at Dhaka University with the aim of improving the mental health treatment of the people of Bangladesh.
It has become a common belief that mental illness is caused by supernatural and most of them are incurable. Many mentally ill patients in Bangladesh receive treatment in religious and traditional ways. They also go to fakirs, kabiraj and magicians for treatment. Most of them provide wrong treatment to patients and exploit them. Knowledge and awareness about mental illness in Bangladesh is still at an early stage and there is no advanced center for rehabilitation of mental patients. It is essential to organize seminars, symposiums and workshops to create awareness about mental illness and ensure the availability of modern management facilities
