Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

See the unseen!

67567567
67567567
minus
plus

While paying attention to one’s physical health not always but at times when most of us is pushed into it, the often ignored one is invariably the mental health. Modern medical science has proved that physical ailments are closely connected to the mental state and attention to the unseen which is called the ‘mind’ can shield one against the irregularities seen on the outer body.


Since times immemorial, medics have pondered over the connection between mental and physical health. Of late, the powerful connections through which emotional, spiritual, and behavioural factors can directly affect health outcomes have been thoroughly delved into and it has been found that emotions and thought patterns can contribute to imbalances within the body.


“Human beings have both nonphysical (mind) and physical (body or brain). It simply suggests that both the mind and body exist as separate entities. It has also been found that there is a two-way communication between mental and physical substances and a perfect balancing of both can protect one from various physical and nonphysical ailments”, says a Psychologist with a leading private hospital.


Recognising the relation of one’s mental condition to the physical issues one is suffering from, the Royal Hospital represented by the Psychosomatic Psychology Unit of the Medicine department on Thursday held the First Mental Health Day Symposium aimed at increasing awareness of mental health related issues in the region and to mobilise the efforts in support of mental health.


It brought together experts from the various sub-specialties in psychiatry, psychology and adolescent medicine to emphasise the importance of integrating psychiatry into mainstream patient healthcare as well as to promote mental health well-being in general.


A special attention to topics like bullying at workplace, child health, familial mental health, mental capacity assessment, and women’s mental health in addition to the stigma and mental health, and workplace burnout which received rave reviews from the experts.


The annual report from the Ministry of Health (MoH) says that there were over 5,000 cases of psychological issues, of which more than 3,400 were girls and over 1,600 boys. The ministry has been carrying out a number of campaigns to raise awareness about psychological conditions which led to increased reporting of such cases.


There were so many visits with concerns by parents of the children and the number of cases reported between the ages 12-19 and 20-44, were nearly 5,000 and 53,000 respectively. In all age groups, there were more cases of visits among women, than men. “Between the ages of 12-19, 2,513 were girls and 2,465 were boys, while there were 31,805 female cases, compared to 20,385 males between the ages of 20-44 in 2017,” according the report.


“Children are highly prone to bear the brunt of their parents’ mental attitudes and lack of such a healthy mental bond can affect their mental state which can lead to many issues”, says a paediatrician with a group of hospitals.


“To tackle the issues associated with mind, a healthy familial as well as societal life is of paramount importance and physical exercises including yoga, meditation, visual imagery and biofeedback are being used to reestablish balance and promote health”, adds the psychologist who further urged not to forget the productive time being spent to reinforce mental health.


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon