October 10 is World Mental Health Day. On this day, worldwide attention is paid to mental health. Unfortunately, mental health problems are still taboo.
Normalizing psychological problems
Over 191,000 people in the Netherlands experience a mental illness for the first time each year, and about 4 in 10 people meet the criteria for one or more psychiatric diagnoses at some point in their lives. Worldwide, some 1 trillion people live with a mental disorder and 3 million people die as a result of alcohol addiction.
Despite the number of people affected, talking about mental illness is still a big taboo worldwide. Research shows that 18% of Dutch people say they cannot even talk about psychological disorders and addictions with others at all.
Understanding the person behind the diagnosis
There are several reasons why the subject is still taboo worldwide. For example, some mental health symptoms are less well known, so people with these symptoms mostly face misunderstanding. There are also many misconceptions surrounding certain issues, such as addictions and personality disorders.
The degree of familiarity with the psychological complaint often increases understanding and empathy. Personal stories also help normalize mental issues, because often the person behind the diagnosis is forgotten. Therefore, good education about psychological problems and being able to talk about them is very important to break the taboo.
At U-center, we treat the person, not the diagnosis
As experts in multiple problems, we understand our clients' situations and their causes. So leading up to Oct. 10, each day we will reflect on the most common conditions we treat at U-center. So that we too can do our part to mobilize support for mental health issues and point people in the direction of help!