Let’s talk more about mental health

A person’s mental health is as important as their physical health. A person’s mental health affects many areas of their life, such as how productive they are, their relationships with others, their hygiene and much more. This is why it is important to have techniques to keep your mental health in balance. During the month of May, we pay special attention to the importance of this topic and to bring more awareness to the Aruba community. Around the world, various organizations are focusing on raising awareness and breaking down stigmas that may exist around the topic of mental health.

There are different types of mental health disorders, for example bipolar, depression, anxiety, psychosis, schizophrenia, and borderline personality disorder. Various factors can affect your mental health, such as boredom and burnout. Boredom is a state of profound job demotivation and ongoing experience in the form of boredom. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged work stress. Additionally, other reasons your mental health may be out of balance are trauma such as physical and emotional abuse, childhood abuse, legal and illegal substance use can be triggers for mental health problems.

Around the world, there is a lot of stigma when it comes to mental health. Stigma affects not only the person with the mental health problem but also their family and those close to the person. When it comes to stigma, there are different categories, for example public stigma and personal stigma. Public stigma can be when people think that a person with mental health problems is dangerous, crazy or stupid. Personal stigma is when people with mental health problems think they are stupid or dangerous. It is important to eliminate these stigmas as they may contribute to the severity of symptoms that a person with a mental health problem may experience.

Stress is a very common factor that can put your mental health out of balance. Stress can cause fear, anger, frustration, changes in appetite/energy, sleep problems and more. There may also be physical reactions such as headaches, stomach problems, and body aches. There are different ways to deal with this. One of them may be taking a break (meditation/stress/doing other activities you enjoy), limiting alcohol or illegal/legal substance use and taking time to connect with others (for example with friends and/or family).

It is important to contact a professional or family doctor if you feel you need help with your mental health. You can contact F.A.D.A., at +297 583 2999 or via email at info@fada.aw or by sending us a WhatsApp at 564-4516 for more information or presentations on various topics of mental health.