Eulalee Thompson - BE WELL

World Mental Health Day, October 10

Interpersonal deterioration, trauma, pervasive sadness and personal growth are some of the issues that land a client in the therapist's chair. After detailed history taking and problem assessment, a trained mental health professional is able to implement, with the client's cooperation, the appropriate interventions to assist in the resolution of the mental health issue.

Globally, based on Pan American Health Organisation statistics, as many as one in every four persons is affected by a mental disorder, and the mental illness disease burden has increased from 8.8 per cent in 1990 to 22 per cent in 2002. Even without adequate local statistics, we can safely say that the mental illness disease burden here in Jamaica is cause for concern and, certainly, for attention.

Mental health issues

Various psycho-traumatic issues affect our citizens - widespread abuses and violence in families, fragmented family arrangements, single mothering, absentee fathers, poverty, lack of basic amenities, community violence, disorganised and unclean living environments, hurricanes and floods. All these issues, continuously bombarding the psyche, affect the way citizens think, feel and behave.

If we can't get the country's mental health right, we will continue to have families which produce citizens, who are angry, bitter at the world, deviant, wired for violence and personality disordered. We will also have many more weeks of hysteria, as in the past week, if dysfunctional families continue to produce men and women who are sexually attracted to children and who use their sexual organs as the core of their self-identity, as a tool for control and power and as a bargaining chip in relationships. We have to decide what kind of country we want to live and retire in and then fix it.

Emotional intelligence

One way to improve Jamaica's mental well-being is through the promotion of emotional intelligence. This will assist citizens to identify and appropriately express their feelings of hurt and anger. Emotional intelligence involves:

Self-awareness - being able to identify your emotions as they occur.

Emotional management - handling your feelings in ways that are relevant to the situation.

Empathy - being able to put yourself in somebody else's shoes and accurately assess their feelings.

Managing relationships - being able to negotiate emotions in interpersonal interactions and developing conflict-resolution skills.

For more details on teaching emotional intelligence to your children, see the training manual, Raising Emotionally Smart Children, produced by the Ministry of Health.

The BRAVE technique

Another technique for feelings identification and expression, developed by Dr Wendel Abel, colleague health columnist and head of University of the West Indies' Department of Psychiatry, is the BRAVE technique. Here is a summary of the technique, which can be quickly implemented in your daily routine.

B: Become aware of your feelings. Learn to identify your feelings. Make a list of the feelings you experience on a daily basis.

R: Relax. Practise relaxation - become aware of your breathing and take deep breaths throughout the day.

A: Acknowledge, affirm and assert your feelings. Do not allow others to devalue or minimise your feelings. Remember, you have a right to all your feelings. You do not owe anyone any explanation for your feelings.

V: Ventilate your feelings. In the same way that you have a right to your feelings, remember you also have all rights to express these feelings. Learn to ventilate your feelings in an appropriate and effective manner using 'I messages'. For example, your boss shouts at you and you feel upset. Say to your boss: "I felt upset when you shouted at me this morning."

E: Exercise the techniques above. Start by playing some quiet music; do the relaxation exercise; think of situations that have affected your emotional state and write them down using 'I messages' and write a note, send a letter, call or speak to someone who has affected you. Communicate your feelings using 'I messages'.

Promote mental health

Policymakers should also be aware that the World Health Organisation has also identified some low-cost, high-impact, evidence-based interventions to promote mental health, even in poor populations:

Early childhood interventions (eg, home visits for pregnant women, preschool psycho-social interventions, combined nutritional and psycho-social interventions in disadvantaged populations).

Support to children (eg, skills building programmes, child and youth development programmes). Socioeconomic empowerment of women (eg, improving access to education, microcredit schemes).

Social support to old age populations (eg, befriending initiatives, community and day centres for the aged).

Programmes targeted at vulnerable groups, including minorities, indigenous people, migrants and people affected by conflicts and disasters (eg, psycho-social interventions after disasters).

Mental health promotion activities in schools (eg, programmes supporting ecological changes in schools, child-friendly schools).

Mental health interventions at work (eg, stress prevention programmes).

Housing policies (eg, housing improvement).

Violence prevention programmes (eg, community policing initiatives).

Community development programmes (eg, 'Communities That Care' initiatives, integrated rural development).

Eulalee Thompson is health editor and a professional counsellor. Email: eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.