Mental Hospital Lagankhel
Mental Health Nepal
What is mental health?
Mental health is often defined as the absence of mental illness. This differs from physcial illness in so far the symptoms are often harder to measure or observe by an outsider. Most simplistically a mental illness is one which generally affects the functioning of the mind, causing thoughts and feelings to be abnormal, usually with physical reactions as well. Often to make a diagnosis it requires that a patient make an accurate report of his or her internal feelings or thoughts. |
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| Certain emotions such as happiness and sadness my be natural and normal responses to an event. For example if something good happens, one will feel happy for a while, and if something bad were to happen, one would feel sad for a while. But in the case of mental illness, mood disorders such as depression and mania, are not just normal feelings in reaction to circumstances. They are characterised by inappropriate feelings of profound sadness or mania for a long duration usually irrespective of circumstance. Often these exaggerated mental states will be accompanied by bilogical/physical symptoms such as disturbed concentration, movement, sleep pattern, reduced appetite and sexual libido. Some mental illnesses can result in eating disorders, high anxiety, panic attacks and even hallucinations. What causes mental illness has historically been the subject of much debate and helps explain what mental health is. The common viewpoint now is that there are a number of explanations which work in tandem - this is known as the biopsychosocial model. There are bilogical factors, such as physcial injuries (often to the brain) and genetics which can either make someone mentally ill or predisposed to be mentally ill. There are psychological factors which again can be the root cause of mental illness. And finally there are social factors which can perpetuate mental illness The treatment of mental illness over the last few decades has been very successful, often using a mixture of medecine and counselling. Different ailments have different treatment plans but nearly all have something which can improve the situation, if not cure it completely, if help is sought. |
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