The year 2019 marks the 70th year since the incorporation of the Mental Health Awareness Program Day that seeks to educate and enlighten the general public of mental health issues. The event is celebrated every fifth month of the year across the globe, with various players and stakeholders in the medical sector coming together to offer such services as free screening, testing and treatment procedures for patients with mental health issues (Dimoff, Kelloway, & Burnstein, 2016) . Mental health includes a person's psychological, emotional, and social wellbeing. It affects how such a person thinks, feels and acts. Mental health is a matter of great weight since it not only affects how a person behaves in the end but also how the general society is affected by such behaviors of a mentally unstable individual. The effects of mental health problems range from mild experiences such as the ack of people and anxiety to such dire experiences as violence that could lead to physical harm of both the patient and those around them (Daskivich et al., 2015) . Contrary to what many people might believe, mental health is essential in every stage of a person's growth and development, right from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. Mental health awareness is vital to an individual because it determines how they reason, and act in society. For such reasons as the fact that mental health problems occur in various forms, including occurring concurrently with other medical situations, it is essential that a person becomes aware of their mental health to be able to seek intervention measures and treatment from an earlier stage (Breslin et al. 2017) . It is common knowledge that when a person experiences a mental health problem, their moods, thinking and behavior are affected, and some of the decisions arrived at are clouded. It is crucial, therefore, for an individual to monitor their mental health wellbeing to ensure they maintain their mental health fitness.
It is important that society is made aware of mental health to help guide them on how to best intervene in such cases where they have members suffering from mental health problems. Mental health awareness entails amongst other things, recognizing some of the factors that contribute to mental health problems. Biological factors like genes and brain chemistry can impact the development of a person's mental health. By paying more attention to family health history, individual suffering from mental health problems can seek treatment at an earlier stage, thereby increasing their chances of being healed before the situation turns chronic. Mental health awareness equally enables an individual to learn how to deal with traumatic life experiences, such as the loss of a dear one in a manner that is constructive and positive. If such life experiences are not carefully handled, then they increase the chances of such individual suffering from mental health problems (Muller, 2015). On the other hand, by enlightening the community of the role such life experiences play in increasing the chances of a person suffering from mental health complications, they are better equipped to offer emotional and psychological support, preventing such cases as PTSD. In as much as the reality may be painful to accept, mental health problems are common, and just about any person, regardless of their age, gender or financial status could suffer mental health problems. These complications, if left untreated, not only negatively affect a person's mental health development, but they equally put at risk the general safety of the society (Beable, Fulcher, Lee, & Hamilton, 2017) . Regarding the increased gun violence in America, one of the factors that have been greatly attributed to the menace is mental instability, in which case a person is unable to reason and make a sound judgment.
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Mental health awareness is equally critical because it highlights the general public on the indicators of mental health problems they should watch out for. Some of the early signs that the society should be wary of, both in themselves and in those around them include eating or sleeping irregularities. Eating or sleeping too little or too much could be a sign that a person is depressed, or suffering any other form of mental health disorder. By paying keen attention to such irregularities, and reporting them to the nearest healthcare provider increases the chances of determining the disease at an earlier stage before it turns chronic. Social withdrawal, low energy, feeling indifferent, indulgence on alcohol and drugs and memory loss are but some of the signs and symptoms the society should be watchful of (Bateman & Fonagy, 2019) . Cases such as alcohol and drug abuse can lead to medical complications if not dealt with at the right opportunity. Mental health awareness is not only crucial for the fact that it creates awareness on mental health problems, but it equally does a great job at enlightening the society on how such disorders are contracted, thereby fighting the stigma that comes along with being mentally unstable. Many individuals fear speaking out about their struggles with mental health illness because they feel victimized for the conditions (Clement et al., 2015). However, by helping the society realize that mental health is a condition just like any other medical condition, many people are encouraged to seek medical intervention freely, while the rest of the society is guided on how to love, accept and support the mental health patients without any prejudice. Mental health awareness thus does a great job in bringing together patients and those around them in a loving environment where they can work collectively towards holistic healing. No person should be discriminated against or denied a chance at a medical intervention for being mentally unstable. Mental illness is a condition pretty much like any other.
References
Bateman, A. W., & Fonagy, P. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of mentalizing in mental health practice . American Psychiatric Pub.
Beable, S., Fulcher, M., Lee, A. C., & Hamilton, B. (2017). SHARP Sports mental Health Awareness Research Project: Prevalence and risk factors of depressive symptoms and life stress in elite athletes. Journal of science and medicine in sport , 20 (12), 1047-1052.
Breslin, G., Haughey, T. J., Donnelly, P., Kearney, C., & Prentice, G. (2017). Promoting mental health awareness in sport clubs. Journal of Public Mental Health , 16 (2), 55-62.
Clement, S., Schauman, O., Graham, T., Maggioni, F., Evans-Lacko, S., Bezborodovs, N., ... & Thornicroft, G. (2015). What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help- seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. Psychological medicine , 45 (1), 11-27.
Daskivich, T. J., Jardine, D. A., Tseng, J., Correa, R., Stagg, B. C., Jacob, K. M., & Harwood, J. L. (2015). Promotion of wellness and mental health awareness among physicians in training: perspective of a national, multispecialty panel of residents and fellows. Journal of graduate medical education , 7 (1), 143-147.
Dimoff, J. K., Kelloway, E. K., & Burnstein, M. D. (2016). Mental health awareness training (MHAT): The development and evaluation of an intervention for workplace leaders. International Journal of Stress Management , 23 (2), 167.
Muller, I. (2015). Mental Health Awareness Among High School and College Students: Barriers to Knowledge, Accessibility, and Utilization of Resources.
