Recently, mental health has become a hot topic of discussion. Many hashtags such as “mental health awareness, depression, anxiety, self-healing, self-love, and so on” appear on our social media. Not infrequently, several artists and celebrities also echo the importance of maintaining mental health. However, there are still people with mental disorders who feel ashamed to tell their condition because they are afraid of being negatively stigmatized by society. In addition, there are still many people, including our own immediate family, who like to judge people with mental disorders as lacking faith or worship. This is still a challenge for psychiatrists, psychologists, as well as educators and the media to continue providing education related to mental health so that our society's knowledge increases.
Mental disorders can happen to anyone, from all walks of life, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, with high or low education. This is because mental disorders are caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors, as well as cancer, hypercholesterolemia, or high blood pressure which are influenced by genetic and environmental factors.
*Source: InfoDATIN Data and Information Center of the Indonesian Ministry of Health
According to the 2018 Riskesdas results, depressive disorders have started to occur since the teenage age range (15-24 years), with a prevalence of 6.2%. The pattern of prevalence of depression also increases with increasing age, the highest being at the age of 75 years and over at 8.9%. This can be compared with other diseases, such as diabetes (6.2% in Indonesia), tuberculosis 0.42%, cancer 1.79%, hypertension 34.1%, and heart disease 1.5%.
Environmental factors that can trigger mental disorders can be in the form of trauma experienced in childhood, bullying, natural disasters, or the death of a family member. Trauma experienced as a child, for example parenting style which is full of violence ( abuse ), sexual harassment, neglect ( neglect ), drug abuse in the family, parental divorce, and domestic violence (KDRT). When experiencing these things as a child, the child has not been able to process the incident so that the wounds caused by the trauma are still present into adulthood. If the wound is not healed, then when there is a stressor in the future, the person will more easily experience mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, panic, difficulty sleeping, fear, low self-esteem, using drugs, or hurting other people.
Therefore, it is very necessary for us to heal the wound, which is now known as "Healing". Healing can be assisted by professionals such as psychiatrists or done alone which is known as "self-healing". So, here are some tips for self-healing:
- Self-Care
We still need to take care of our mental health. Don't let us be too busy thinking about others, but forget to think about ourselves. Do things that are good for our mental health such as doing our hobbies, exercising at least 15-30 minutes every day, getting enough sleep, drinking lots of water, eating healthy food, chatting with friends, taking walks to enjoy nature, praying, meditating , and other things we like.
- Self-Awareness
When we feel something uncomfortable about ourselves, whether it's feelings of sadness, fear, anxiety or anger, try to understand and feel what we are really thinking and feeling. Try to focus on the "now" and not judge those feelings. The feeling is neither good nor bad, it is just a feeling, an emotion. Try to ask yourself and understand what you really want and feel right now. The only person who can speak from the bottom of their heart is themselves.
- Self-Forgiveness
As previously stated, maybe we have experienced painful or traumatic events in the past. Sometimes we become angry, afraid or regret why this incident ever happened. Then we start contemplating if the event never happened or we could do something to change the event in the past. However, did you know that someone who has a hard time forgiving others will feel hurt, both physically and emotionally? Forgive things that have happened for our own sake. Forgive your parents, forgive all relationships that have gone wrong, forgive those who have hurt you, forgive YOURSELF. Forgiveness means letting go of hope that the past can change. Forgiveness also means ACCEPTING that something has happened to us, not accepting that it was OK, but accepting because it HAS happened. When we understand this, we will level up to become better human beings, because we don't hold grudges for anything, for any situation, so the past doesn't imprison us, doesn't hold us hostage. Make a regret in our life as a lesson. Talk to yourself that making mistakes is natural. All one needs to do is learn not to repeat it. Let it go and start focusing on developing ourselves. Move On So You Can Grow.
- Self-Compassion
Be gentle with yourself. Sometimes we are our own harshest critics. Sometimes, we ourselves do not allow ourselves to be satisfied. We ourselves do not allow ourselves to receive praise. We don't feel comfortable when we feel calm and peaceful for a long time. Realize, that our lives are valuable, so we also need to work on a feeling of satisfaction with our achievements. If we can appreciate ourselves more, feel satisfied with our achievements, then we will be able to work even better. If we never give ourselves credit, always blame ourselves, always feel imperfect, then we will feel burnout and stop what we are doing. Take joy in the present moment, enjoy what you are doing, and allow yourself to feel happiness and fulfillment.
Remember, we are the ones who are responsible for our lives. We can't wait for someone to heal our wounds. Only we have the power to take responsibility for healing those wounds. The past is present in the present not to be regretted, but to be understood. Reinterpreting past experiences with a positive response will help our wounds heal. Make this experience a part of our life journey.
There are times, not all cases can be solved by self-healing. If you have tried the methods above, but still have disturbances in functioning, such as disturbances in work functioning, sleeping, eating, relating to other people, difficulty concentrating, stress, addiction, panic or other conditions, then seek professional help such as a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist will assess whether a person needs medication or enough psychotherapy. Self-healing and consulting experts can also go hand in hand. With a holistic therapeutic process, the possibility of healing our wounds is getting better. Finally, I hope we can all heal our wounds and have a healthy soul.
Article written by dr. William Surya Atmadja, Sp.KJ (Psychiatric Specialist at EMC Pulomas Hospital).