Here are more photos I took on my first visit to the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara on 17/09/22.
Here are more photos I took on my first visit to the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara on 17/09/22.
Something that has impacted most of my life.
You can read more about this important topic in my Decades section and in my blog posts below.
Mental health is “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Mental health includes subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one’s intellectual and emotional potential, among others. From the perspectives of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual’s ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines “mental health”. Some early signs related to health problems are sleep irritation, lack of energy and suicidal thinking.
In the mid-19th century, William Sweetser was the first to coin the term mental hygiene, which can be seen as the precursor to contemporary approaches to work on promoting positive mental health. Isaac Ray, the fourth president of the American Psychiatric Association and one of its founders, further defined mental hygiene as “the art of preserving the mind against all incidents and influences calculated to deteriorate its qualities, impair its energies, or derange its movements”.
In American history, mentally ill patients were thought to be religiously punished. This response persisted through the 1700s, along with the inhumane confinement and stigmatization of such individuals. Dorothea Dix (1802–1887) was an important figure in the development of the “mental hygiene” movement. Dix was a school teacher who endeavoured to help people with mental disorders and to expose the sub-standard conditions into which they were put. This became known as the “mental hygiene movement”. Before this movement, it was not uncommon that people affected by mental illness would be considerably neglected, often left alone in deplorable conditions without sufficient clothing. From 1840 to 1880, she won over the support of the federal government to set up over 30 state psychiatric hospitals; however, they were understaffed, under-resourced, and were accused of violating human rights.
Emil Kraepelin in 1896 developed the taxonomy of mental disorders which has dominated the field for nearly 80 years. Later, the proposed disease model of abnormality was subjected to analysis and considered normality to be relative to the physical, geographical and cultural aspects of the defining group.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Clifford Beers founded “Mental Health America – National Committee for Mental Hygiene”, after the publication of his accounts as a patient in several lunatic asylums, A Mind That Found Itself, in 1908 and opened the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States.
The mental hygiene movement, similar to the social hygiene movement, had at times been associated with advocating eugenics and sterilization of those considered too mentally deficient to be assisted into productive work and contented family life. In the post-WWII years, references to mental hygiene were gradually replaced by the term ‘mental health’ due to its positive aspect that evolves from the treatment of illness to preventive and promotive areas of healthcare.
Read more about The History Of Mental Health here.
Mental health, as defined by the Public Health Agency of Canada, is an individual’s capacity to feel, think, and act in ways to achieve a better quality of life whilst respecting personal, social, and cultural boundaries. Impairment of any of these is a risk factor for mental disorders, which are components of mental health. Mental disorders are defined as health conditions that affect and alters cognitive functioning, emotional responses, and behaviour associated with distress and/or impaired functioning. The DSM-5 is used as a classification system of various mental disorders.
Mental health is associated with a number of lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, stress, drug abuse, social connections and interactions. Therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurse practitioners, or family physicians can help manage mental illness with treatments such as therapy, counselling or medication.
Read more about Mental Health here.
The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.
The following list is from the NHS Mental Health page. Click on each link for further help and advice on that particular condition.
Anxiety UK – Official website. They were formed in 1970, by Katharine and Harold Fisher as a result of Katharine’s experience of agoraphobia and her desire to develop support for others similarly affected. Since those early beginnings, they have grown to become a national organisation with an international reach, whilst retaining a user-led ethos – being run by and for those with anxiety. Many of their small seven-strong staff team have their own lived experience and understand the distress, isolation and misery that anxiety can cause. We’re here to help and can support you to find ways to control anxiety instead of it controlling you.
Bipolar UK – Official website. Their mission is to empower everyone affected by bipolar to live well and fulfil their potential.
Birmingham Mind – Official website. Birmingham Mind is the largest independent mental health charity providing services in and beyond the City of Birmingham’s boundaries. Their website shows how they are promoting wellbeing and recovery, providing high-quality support and challenging the stigma of mental distress.
CALM – Official website. CALM stands for Campaign Against Living Miserably and they are taking a stand against suicide. That means standing against feeling shit, standing up to stereotypes, and standing together to show life is always worth living. 125 lives are lost every week to suicide. And 75% of all UK suicides are male. They exist to change this. They do it by provoking conversation, running life-saving services, and bringing people together so they reject living miserably, get help when they need it and don’t die by suicide. But they can’t do it alone. Stand with them.
Mental Health Foundation – Official website. Their vision is for a world with good mental health for all. They work to prevent mental health problems. Helping people understand, protect and sustain their mental health. They will drive change towards a mentally healthy society for all, and support communities, families and individuals to live mentally healthier lives, with a particular focus on those at greatest risk.
Mind – Official website. Mind provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. They campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. They won’t give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets support and respect.
Rethink Mental Illness – Official website. Their vision is for equality, rights, fair treatment and maximum quality of life for all those affected by mental illness, their carers, family and friends. As one of the largest charitable providers of services for people living with mental illness, they are well placed to make a direct impact on the care people receive. But they have a much larger vision too – to transform at every level the way our nation approaches mental illness. Every year, our diverse range of information and support helps tens of thousands of people get through crises, live independently and feel that they do not have to face mental illness alone.
Samaritans – Official website. Whatever you’re facing, a Samaritan will face it with you. Every day, Samaritans volunteers respond to around 10,000 calls for help. They are here, day or night, for anyone who’s struggling to cope, who needs someone to listen without judgement or pressure. Samaritans are not only for the moment of crisis, they are taking action to prevent the crisis. They give people ways to cope and the skills to be there for others. And they encourage, promote and celebrate those moments of connection between people that can save lives. They offer to listen and support people and communities in times of need. In prisons, schools, hospitals and on the rail network, Samaritans are working with people who are going through a difficult time and training others to do the same. Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy, and Samaritans’ vision is that fewer people die by suicide. That’s why they work tirelessly to reach more people and make suicide prevention a priority.
The Blurt Foundation – Official website. Think of them as the knowing nod. You’ve seen it – a slight bob of the head, often accompanied by a smile. A little movement that says, “I understand”, “I’m listening” and “I’m here for you”. That’s Blurt. They really understand how devastating depression can be. Jobs come to an end, relationships break down and lives can be lost, all through the effect of depression. That’s why the work they do is so important – it not only changes lives but saves them.
YoungMinds – Official website. The sheer scale of the problem we’re faced with can feel overwhelming. More young people than ever before need support for their mental health and accessing that support quickly can make a critical difference to those young people. Yet, most of the time those young people need to wait. And wait. And wait. When it feels like nothing is there for you when you need it most, you feel alone. For far too many young people, this is their reality. When they need help and can’t get it, it feels like they’re being told they don’t matter. YoungMinds have called their strategy ‘You Matter’ because, ultimately, that is what this is all about.
cottonbro on Pexels – The image shown at the top of this page is the copyright of cottonbro. You can find more great work from the photographer and lots more free stock photo’s at Pexals.