MENTAL HEALTH: A FORGOTTEN PRIORITY
No one needs to be informed or reminded of the pandemic and the lockdowns. Up-to-date information is streamed in by the hour on the number of people who test positive and the number of deaths. So, too, the economic impact of the lockdown has been much studied (although its impact on the poor is often kept hidden).
One aspect that does not get sufficient attention is the emotional impact of the pandemic and the lockdown. Experts are aware of it, but the general public, no. So, too, in what we call “normal life”—family, religious and priestly life, as well as our long years of formation—a neglected area is mental health. It is easier to understand material needs (food, shelter) or academic requirements (which school or college to attend, which exams to pass) than to be understand and promote our mental and emotional health. This neglected area leads to much unhappiness, both in married and celibate life. We would all be happier, more productive, easier to live with, and more inspiring if we were to look after our own and each other’s mental health as assiduously as we eat and drink, take bath and get college degrees.
It is a little more complicated, I agree. But we can do much for ourselves—and for our family and community members—if we set our mind to it.
This is what this month’s four cover stories are about. In the next issue, we shall deal with mental illness and ways of getting over it. As the Australian Bishops wrote last month (See MAGNET, December 2020, pp. 33-34), we need not hide this issue, not see it as a stigma We need to admit it as a priority and learn to deal with it.
Cover Story 1 presents the main lessons psychology can teach us about mental health. Cover Story 2 follows it up with 15 tips. Cover Story 3 shows the four aspects of mental health, as well as the main do’s and don’ts. Cover Story 4 looks at the mental health issues of youth, who form the majority of India’s 1.3 billion people.
Other features have, as usual, much to make us pause and learn.
Thus: Two extraordinary books, written in unusual ways.
Movies: One in which a girl who lost all hope of living a normal life tells us: “We don’t get to choose what happens to us; we get to choose what we do next.” In the other, we see the intense personal agony of the man who first set foot on the moon.
You will see a new column: On social justice. A much-needed addition. It shows us that to be the church is much more than rituals, liturgy and rules. We need to “get dirty” serving people who live and suffer in the muck.
A heart-warming news item last month: Ranjitsinh Disale, from rural Maharasthra, who won the Varkey Prize for the best teacher worldwide, shared the prize money of a million US dollars with the ten finalists! He thus becomes a teacher for all of us.
A startling political truth mentioned by Nobel Prize Economist Paul Krugman carries an urgent lesson: “Conflicts of interest within countries are much more important than conflicts of interest between countries.” Understand where the bigger battles are being fought.
Let me end by presenting another new feature: Podcasts. They are videos worth watching. We present the links. Watch and see how you find them.
Fr Joe Mannath SDB
Editor
Podcasts worth watching:
One shows how a young American friar sees the changing situation of religious life. The second is about a woman who discerned her vocation, and decided to be a married woman The third is excellent for all leaders, secular or religious. Some called it the best speech of all time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6laES7LvU0
8 minutes. By young US friar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJtXNsFhS38
A US woman: Do NOT discern religious life
Two things Leaders need most: Empathy and Perspective
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COLUMNIST INTRODUCED THIS MONTH
Fr Ravi Sagar SJ
Ravi Sagar SJ is a practising advocate at the Supreme Court of India. From 2002 till 2019, he practised at Gauhati High Court. In Delhi, he the obtained Minority Status Certificates for over 300 Minority Educational Institutions, especially in the North East India.
He also holds Post Graduate Diplomas in Labour Laws and Labour Welfare, and in Human Rights.
He founded the Legal Cell for Human Rights, Guwahati (LCHR) and served as the founder director till July 2017. He has been Project Director for several programmes on awareness, capacity building and training in collaboration with organizations including from UNICEF, Indian Ministry of Minority Affairs and Ministry of Law and Justice, Assam State Legal Services Authority and the Gauhati High Court Legal Services Committee. He has been a Visiting Faculty Member to educational and professional institutions, and authored booklets on various legal issues.
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