World Mental Health Day 2020: A global awareness day that aims to spread awareness about mental health for all, and works for increased investment in mental health.

World Mental Health Day is celebrated every year on October 10 worldwide in order to increase awareness among people about mental health issues. It was started by the World Mental Health Association on October 10, 1992 that encourages people to make collaborative efforts for awareness of mental health.

History of World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day was first observed in 1992 at the initiative of Richard Hunter, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and the World Federation for Mental Health. Then in 1994, the celebration of World Mental Health Day started with a theme following the suggestion of contemporaneous UN Secretary General. The theme was, “improving the quality of mental health services worldwide“.  Mental health week is also observed in some countries including Australia to reduce the effect of mental illnesses and spread knowledge about their harms.

Why World Mental Health Day is celebrated?

Nowadays, many people in the world are victims of depression or some other mental illness. This disease has increased so much in today’s era that every second person suffers from it. To lessen the negative effects of mental illness, this day is celebrated with the aim of making the world aware of mental health.

World Mental Health Day 2020 Theme

Every year different themes are laid for World Mental Health Day, this year the theme is “Mental Health for All: Greater Investment, Greater Access.”

Alarming increase in Mental Health issues during Covid-19

Nowadays, there is a global state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The entire world has come to a standstill for the last 7 months. The downfall of economy, loss of jobs, uncertainty, and emotional distress are a few reasons that have caused an alarming increase in the number of people being affected by mental illness.

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Even before the pandemic, mental health statistics were not satisfactory with around 450 million people across the globe living with some kind of mental disorder. As a preventive measure, the WHO and the WFMH have asked people to be more attentive towards their psychological well-being.

Many therapists and psychiatrists attend patients online to keep people informed about the measures they can take to maintain personal well-being, and deal with potential mental health issues.

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