TEHRAN – October 10 marks World Mental Health Day 2022 with the slogan "Making Mental Health and Well-Being for All a Global Priority".

Growing social and economic inequalities, protracted conflicts, violence, and public health emergencies affect whole populations, threatening progress toward improved well-being; a staggering 84 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced in 2021. 

We must deepen the value and commitment we give to mental health as individuals, communities, and governments and match that value with more commitment, engagement, and investment by all stakeholders, across all sectors. 

We must strengthen mental health care so that the full spectrum of mental health needs is met through a community-based network of accessible, affordable, and quality services.

The mental health bill has been sent to the parliament for further review in the fields of sociology, psychiatry, and psychology.According to the National Mental Health Survey in 2010, the statistics of psychiatric disorders were reported as 23.6 percent; After that, another survey was conducted in 2019, and investigations were carried out, but the results of the last national survey have not been extracted yet.

Of course, urban and provincial studies have been conducted in some parts of the country in 2019, which have determined that the statistics of some common psychiatric disorders (total depression disorders, total anxiety disorders, etc.) reached about 29 percent, considering the global pandemic.

Ali Asadi, deputy head of the mental health office of the Ministry of Health, said that the Mental Health Law has been approved over 15 years ago. Currently, the mental health bill has been sent to the parliament and the government for further review in all fields of sociology, law, psychiatry, and psychology, which has not yet been approved.

One of the most important weaknesses in the field of mental health is that the health literacy level of society is lower compared to other issues, and this is while people have increased their awareness about makeup, fashion, social media, etc., but have neglected their health.

For this reason, many people may not realize that their problem is a psychiatric disorder such as obsession, depression, etc., and many times they do not accept that they have a problem, and therefore they visit mental centers less often to receive services.

However, we tried to pursue educational, prevention, and community empowerment measures through the establishment of comprehensive health service centers; Of course, the mainstream media should also be with us, which has rarely happened so far, he lamented.

Emphasizing the direct effects of coronavirus on the mental health of communities, Asadi stated that during the past two and a half years, the pandemic has had a lot of economic, political, social, etc. effects in all societies, which causes psychological and social damage to increase in the future.

Due to the restrictions placed on the cultural and economic problems, class gap, poverty, death of people, and complex mourning following the loss of family members, etc., which caused complications and damage to continue for years, he regretted.

Mental health week programs

The health ministry has assigned each day of the week a special theme as follows:

Monday, October 10: The role of policymakers in realizing justice in health

Tuesday, October 11: Primary health care system, a justice-oriented approach to access mental health services

Wednesday, October 12: Mental health and well-being of all in the post-corona era

Thursday, October 13: The effect of healthy relationships between parents and children in strengthening the family

Friday, October 14: Spiritual health and prevention of psychiatric diseases

Saturday, October 15: The role of non-governmental organizations and scientific associations in promoting mental health and community well-being

Sunday, October 16: Self-care and its role in improving the mental health of society

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