There’s a Disconnect

Maintaining your mental health during difficult circumstances can become a challenging task; many people's mental health can be negatively impacted by juggling their personal, professional, and parental responsibilities.

People frequently claim that we are in the end times, but what does that actually mean? The end of the world, or the end of a way of thinking and/or living that no longer benefits all of us. People who believe life is more work than play are less interested in a better tomorrow. However, appreciating that tomorrow offers a new opportunity to think or do something different from what was already done is something to be grateful for. Challenging times can make us doubt what is happening now and what’s to come. The reality is that you cannot plan for the future if you do not know what it will look like; you can’t promise a future. Balance is crucial, but preparation is necessary for realistic financial measures, emotional self-care, and self-control during inflationary times.

There’s a DISCONNECT!!!

According to public health and clinical literature by mental health experts like Vikram Patel, there is still a significant gap in how society, companies, and the healthcare system perceive and handle mental health, despite increased knowledge. Clinical literature emphasizes the discrepancy between formal psychiatric diagnostic frameworks and how the general public perceives and experiences psychological distress. The "mental health credibility gap" refers to society's propensity to minimize or disregard those with a mental health diagnosis.

In recent studies, 57% of Americans give the U.S. mental health system a D or F, and 75% of Americans think mental health illnesses are diagnosed and treated worse than physical health concerns. We are shown that three main strategies are needed to close this "credibility" gap: first, to differentiate between mental disorders that may benefit from biomedical interventions and milder distress states; second, to provide interventions for distress states primarily through low-intensity psychosocial interventions provided outside of the formal health care system; and third, to base the descriptions of diagnostic categories on patterns of phenomena observed in general populations rather than those observed in specialized settings. I strongly believe this is a topic always worth discussing.

While self-care is a regular activity that preserves your physical, emotional, and mental well-being, we're checking in this Wednesday.