What do you think is the crucial factor of a student’s success? The educational institute? The time invested in studying? Intellect? Resources? Let us surprise you: there is none. The most important element for students’ success is mental health.
Mental health awareness is equally important for everyone. However, as a student, it affects the academic concentration, cognitive ability, energy level, optimism, and performance. Let’s look at a statistical report to understand in depth why it is so important:
- 75% of children face mental illness before their 18th birthday.
- 50% of the mental health problems in adult life begin before the age of 15.
- 10% of school students have diagnosable mental problems. In simple words, every third student in the class of 30 will have a mental health issue.
- 75% of youngsters who are facing mental illness are not receiving treatment for that.
- 51% of youngsters feel embarrassed talking about their mental illness.
In this guide, we will help all the students in UAE who are suffering from mental illness. Below, we have mentioned everything about this serious problem and some resources that will help them in seeking assistance and treatment. Let’s begin with the details without waiting any further.
What Is Mental Health?
Mental health is about our psychological, emotional, and social well-being. It impacts how we feel, act, and think. It also assists in managing stress, communicating with others, and making choices and decisions.
It is similar to any physical illness that causes disturbance in behavior, thinking, emotion, or energy, making it complicated to cope with the common demands of life. The two common mental health states are:
| Anxiety Disorders | Mood Disorders |
| It includes different types of traumas. | It includes bipolar depression and depression. |
| Like post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, disorder and specific phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and generalized anxiety. | They are characterized by issues in controlling one’s mood. |
Why Mental Health Is Important For Students?
The majority of youth spend most of their time at college or school. They meet people, experience things, and above all how they are treated highly influences their mindset and intellectual growth. Let us understand this with the help of a scenario.
Student who always takes distinctions and positions but has now stopped achieving in their classes people start criticizing them. Such as losing interest or slacking back. Many institutes think sending such students to counselors will solve the problem, but this is not how it works. Students are not the problem in many cases, but the environment is where they are. Institutes should be the place where students can freely express their views and start debate on worthy topics without being ashamed and embarrassed.
Also, teachers should appreciate and help their students express whatever they think and motivate them by highlighting their excellent qualities. This type of support is very important and remains a reminder to students for a lifetime that they can reach the height of success.
Now, let’s look at some of the reasons why mental health is significant for students.
- A Positive Image Of Self
Mental health reflects the personal feelings of an individual. Overall, mental well-being plays an important role in your self-esteem. Confidence can usually be a great indicator of a good mental state. A person with a healthy mental state pays attention to the good and positive aspects of themselves.
- Healthier Relationships
If your mental state is in good standing, you can give quality time, love, support, and affection to your friends and family. When you are emotionally distressed, supporting and showing up for the people you love and care about becomes easy.
- Excellent Productivity
Dealing with any mental disorder or depression can affect the level of your productivity. If you are mentally strong you will be able to produce quality work with efficiency.
- Premium Quality Of Life
When mental well-being flourishes, your quality of life may be enhanced. This can offer room for bigger participation in community building. For instance: you may start working as a cashier, driver, cook, etc. You may also adopt new hobbies like traveling, reading, etc.
How Students Can Maintain Well-Being And Mental Health
Image source: https://www.deerfieldbeachhigh.net/2021/05/14/how-to-take-care-of-your-mental-well-being/
To keep your mental health in a good state, it is important to introduce and change some of your life practices.
- Exercising daily.
- Prioritizing your sleep.
- Doing meditation.
- Learning new skills for life challenges.
- Staying in touch with loved ones.
- Maintaining an optimistic point of view on life.
Another effective way to maintain and enhance mental health is by asking for professional guidance. Talk therapy is great as it teaches ways to communicate and interact with others during times of difficulty.
Signs Of Mental Disorders In Students
If students are facing some mental health issues there will be some warning signs and they must pay attention to them. Sometimes these are the indicators that students should need assistance for their mental health. These indicators could be any symptom of a diagnosable mental health disorder. The following are the symptoms of a student struggling with their mental well-being.
Other physical symptoms like nausea, chest pain, rapid heart rate, and dizziness.
Resources Accessible For Mental Health In UAE
Mental health is significant for many reasons. Good mental health encourages a student’s happiness, health, academic achievement, and learning. Through mental health education awareness, institutes can fight common myths and mental health stigma. Students can learn about enhancing their mental health, indicators of mental health disorders, and where they should go when they need assistance
- Counseling Services On Campus
These sessions serve the individual requirements of students who have a particular goal they think is important to be addressed or they would like to work on. Usually, these one-time sessions are 45-60 minutes long. Students can also ask for short-term counselling after their single session if they feel they are getting benefited from it. The Counselor will offer some recommendations and suggestions to students for additional support.
- Individual Counseling
These one-hour detailed sessions are held once a week and are made to assist students in discussing any type of concerns and issues they believe are blocking their ability to triumph at their academic level or personal growth. Students will discover strategies to assist them in meeting their goals.
- Community Support Initiatives And Group Workshops
Counseling Support Services plans to encourage a healthy, mindful, and healthy community in Dubai. Group community building and workshop initiatives to increase awareness will occur regularly, and different topics about overall well-being and mental health will be discussed. Students are motivated to share their thoughts on programming ideas.
Wrapping Up
Every student desires to do great. All they require is a tad bit of motivation, and they can do wonders. All you have to do is encourage them that they can achieve and conquer anything. Unfortunately, the embarrassment keeps people away from getting assistance. Mental health should not be something people should be ashamed of or thought of differently. This should be treated equally to any other physical illness; more students will have the courage to get assistance and live their lives better.
