By Puteri Balkish
GOMBAK, 14 October 2016: In conjunction with the annual celebration of World Mental Health Day on 10 October, the Secretariat of Psychology (PSYCHSTA) held a programme to educate and create awareness among the campus community regarding mental health and handling of mental pressure with the hope that this event would instil the virtue of tolong-menolong (helping each other) among those in dire need of help and assistance.
Among the highlights of the programme was a talk on the topic, “How to Be Mentally Healthy” by Dr. Mimi Iznita Mohamed Iqbal at the Mini Auditorium from 8pm-10pm.
In her talk, Dr. Mimi Iznita enlightened the audience on the vitality of having a mental health first aid kit and ways to maintain optimum mental health as well as the importance of having good mental health.
She said, “Sometimes we have to understand that emotions go up and down and if we can adapt, it shows that we are mentally healthy people.”
She also spoke about PERMA, the domains of mental health introduced by Martin Seligman, a psychologist who researched on positive psychology, and the 10 features of wellbeing introduced by Huppert, a professor of psychology.
Besides that, Dr. Mimi highlighted on the services offered by the Psychological Services Unit (PSU) to accommodate students who need professional help regarding their mental state.
When asked regarding the social stigma on mental health and the restriction to seek professional help prior to this, especially when young people approached their parents, she said that parents are not equipped to deal with this issue and the discomfort had caused them to shy away.
She explained that the most acceptable solution they can offer is for them to tell their children to pray to increase their level of imaan. However, she made it clear that parent training is also essential because working with only the patient does not change the circumstances around them, so relapses are prone to happen.
‘The ideal treatment is to work with the individual with resources but we have to not disregard the importance of educating the family.”
“By going to the ground and educating the general masses, that’s when individuals are able to see that resources available for them in a stigma consumed country like ours,” she added.
An exhibition and food sale was held at HS Square. Also, there was a talk given by an experienced speaker to further explain about psychological first aid.
A movie night was held the next day (11 October) with the screening of “The Voices” at Mini Auditorium. The film taught the audience that seeking help is of importance when it circulates around mental health as it may lead to detrimental issues and chaos.
In this case, the movie focuses on a schizophrenia patient who was left alone to succumb to his thoughts and shunned by the society for keeping it a secret which led him to killing people because of the voices he heard from his pets, and on his very own massacre, he severed the heads of his victims.
Overall, the event was regarded as a success since it opened the eyes of many people on an important topic regarding mental health.***
