Building your mental fitness --Two experts share thoughts on Springboard
Mental fitness can be defined as having and maintaining a state of well-being and cultivating awareness of how people think, behave and feel.
A person's mental fitness indicates their ability to think clearly and to make decisions efficiently and effectively.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated 15 per cent of working-age adults have a mental disorder at any point in time.
Depression and anxiety are also estimated to cost the global economy US$1 trillion each year, driven predominantly by lost productivity.
In the final part of a three part discussions on mental health on the Springboard, Your Virtual University, the Host, Rev. Albert Ocran, caught up with a licensed psychologist, Rev. Albright Banibensu, and a consultant and Director at the Accra Psychiatrist Hospital, Dr Pinaman Appau, who both shared their thoughts on how people could build their mental fitness.
The WHO describes mental health as the state of ones well-being in which the person finds meaning in life; realises his or her potential; is able to cope with the stresses of life; work productively and fruitfully; and contribute meaningfully to society.
Speaking on the show, Dr Appau said if someone was able to do all these things then it could be assumed the person was mentally fit.
She urged companies and the nation as a whole to take a keen interest in the mental well-being of their staff and citizens, respectively.
“An individual’s mental state is tied to his/her productivity and as such companies must pay attention to it.”
“if someone is not mentally fit then the person may stay away from work or may go to work but may sleep behind his/her desk or to work effectively,” she stated.
Mental ill health
Dr Appau noted that in some cases, some of the indicators of mental fitness might be significantly affected which then affects the person’s life and leads to mental illness.
“But sometimes, even though, these indicators are affected, it doesn’t affect the person’s life significantly that is when we say the person has mental ill health and most people have mental ill health.”
“This has been found to be one of the disabilities of workers worldwide,” she noted.
Eight points from Dr Appau
1. Productivity; mental health affects the productivity of businesses and nations. If a person is unfit, they may miss work or be present but unproductive. An estimated seven per cent of our GDP is lost as a result of mental health issues.
2. Mental issues; major mental illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar affect our behaviour and thought processes. Minor ones such as severe anxiety and panic disorders make people extremely afraid of darkness, heights, snakes etc.
3. Exposure therapy; mental health carers sometimes deploy exposure therapy. This involves a gradual introduction to what you are afraid of to help kill the fear. When deployed successfully, the person warms up.
4. Psychiatry; the psychiatrist first takes patients (walk-in or referred) through a history taking process, physical exam and a mental state exam of their appearance, hygiene, restlessness, speech, cognition in order to arrive at a diagnosis and care plan.
5. Facility stigmatisation; the stigma is often extended to the mental health facilities. There have been instances where people coming to our hospital, with public transport, got down at an earlier stop and walked to avoid mockery.
6. Progress; my most fulfilling experience was when a lady walked in and requested to have a mental health check-up. She was not unwell. Our focus is on helping people in their communities. Our toll-free lines are 0201643593 and 0599402207.
7. Home-care visits; for those unwilling to come to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, we offer a paid service where we come to your home to care for the patient. The number to call for that service is 0577690753 or 057223619.
8. Support; supporting mental health is key because it is directly connected to national productivity. The mentally ill are the most vulnerable and we owe it to ourselves to support mental health.
The head carries the rest
Highlighting the importance of mental fitness, Rev. Banibensu, said ‘the head carries the rest’, and without a good mental health, there was no health.
He noted that every other thing was coordinated or enabled by how good an individual was functioning mentally.
“If somebody has all the muscles to lift something heavy but then is not functioning mentally well, that person can use that heavy thing in ways we wouldn’t like.”
“So in your overall development, you need a good mental health to coordinate every activity,” he stated.
Fruitful relationships
Zooming in one of the key indicators of mental fitness which was having fruitful relationships, Rev. Banibensu, said: “If you do not have a good mental health you will not be able to have fruitful relationships.
“Life is all about relating with others so if you cannot relate with others very well then your life is already not working out well as it should.”
“If people congregate to work and you are among them and you are not functioning well, there is no way you can feel the self-worth which is one of the indicators that you should have. You will feel out of place and not be able to work with others the way you should and others will also not find working with you fruitful,” he explained.
Six points from Rev. Banibensu
1. Importance; without mental, there is no health. The mental health coordinates all other aspects of health. Eg. If you are not doing well mentally, you may not relate well to people and that may affect everything else.
2. Ignorance; I have people who walk in for premarital counselling who find out, to their surprise, that they have mental health issues. We often have to suspend the marital counselling and first attend to the mental fitness issues.
3. Symptoms; simple things like feeling sleepy after a full night’s sleep and a general lack of motivation, even for the things you love, are pointers to mental health issues.
4. Systematic desensitisation; a therapist can deploy systematic desensitisation, where they ask a series of questions to determine the origin of the patients fear of anxiety and help dispel them.
5. Psychologists; a psychologist can help a child with learning deficiencies and their parents by assessing the possible biological, social or psychological causes. They can deploy career development therapy to determine the suitability of a client’s working environment.
6. Fear; many struggle with a fear of the future, rooted in fatalistic thinking. They feel hopelessly stuck and think they could die. A psychologist can help you through that. We help the bereaved to rethink their situation and move forward.