“Mental illness can happen to anyone,” says Psychiatrist
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-THE second annual Mental Health Week begins on Sunday, October 5 and Chief Organizer and Psychiatrist, Dr. Sharon Halliday has appealed to the general public for their support and participation in the planned events, as “mental illness is an illness like any other and can happen to anybody”.
“We hope the public would be able to ask themselves, ‘If I get a mental illness what are the things that I would like in place in society to help me? What is the attitude I would like people to have toward me?
“Once we begin to think along those lines it would help to change our attitudes,” Halliday said.
Among the activities planned for the week are a lecture by substance abuse specialist Dr. Beny J. Primm (Oct. 6), numerous radio and television appearances by mental health specialists and a Health Fair in Independence Square with many free screenings to celebrate World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10).
Halliday said her biggest hope for the week would be for the general public to take this year’s theme, ‘Making mental health a global priority: Scaling up services through citizen advocacy and action’, to heart.
“Just recognizing that mental illness can not only result in bizarre behaviour like running up and down the street naked, but can actually affect your whole being is very important.”
Mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture. ~~Adz:Right~~
Some of the more common psychoses that affect large numbers of persons, but are not always properly diagnosed and treated include depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse.
“I normally ask families to look for changes in a person. For instance, if a quiet child who is nice suddenly becomes aggressive and argumentative it means one of two things: either they are on drugs and are intoxicated or they are developing a mental illness.”
Other common changes Halliday said persons should be aware of in themselves or others include changes in appetite, sleeping habits, mood, lack of concentration, feeling tired all the time and untreatable body pain.
“We’re not asking people to diagnose themselves, but just to recognize changes and come talk to a professional if help is needed,” Halliday said.
She added that diagnosing mental health issues early can be integral to effectively treating the various physiological and psychological causes of mental illness, which can be much more difficult to deal with as the illness progresses.
Though the week of activities, which runs until October 12, is expected to dispense a great deal of information and offer many free screenings for mental health to the public, Halliday said she hopes that the governmental and private sectors would also take note.
“Mental health is very important to the nation and we hope to one day soon build a Mental Health Center where people could be taken off the streets and receive treatment, but of course we would need financial assistance for a thing like that.”
Activities will also be scheduled in Nevis throughout the week, including a Mental Health Exhibition and Public Lecture (Oct. 8), an island tour for patients (Oct. 9) and a closing church service at Emmaus Chapel (Oct. 12).
