WORLDMENTAL HEALTH DAY-
OCTOBER 10
Each year on 10
October, thousands of individuals and groups will gather to celebrate and
promote the only global day for mental health awareness. This annual program
was created as a way to bring more attention to mental illness and its effects
on individual life, work, family and overall stability of communities and
countries. This year our global theme is ‘Mental Health and Long Term Illness:
The Need for Continued and Integrated Care’. We will produce and distribute
over 5000 awareness CDs around the World to advocate for better services and
understanding for those who suffer not only with long term physical illnesses,
but who also experience mental health issues as a result of diminished health.
We all agree that one
of the most important aspects of a ‘good life’ is our overall health. A
meaningful definition of health as a ‘healthy state of well‐being’ should
address the whole person, ‘the general condition of the body and mind’. Studies
show that physical and mental well‐being have a major impact on one another –
cancer, diabetes, chronic pain, cardiovascular or respiratory disease should
not be viewed in isolation from the possible mental and emotional issues of an
individual.
The most prominent long
term illnesses are currently the leading cause of death and disability the
world over; Dr Gauden Galea, UN/WHO Coordinator of Health Promotion, has noted
that four chronic diseases – cardiovascular, diabetes, cancer and respiratory
illness – are responsible for 60% of the world's deaths, ‘and 80% of these
deaths are happening in the poorest populations of the world’. The management of
many of these long term illnesses has attracted attention because of its impact
on mortality, health resources, quality of life, and the economic burden to
government, healthcare and families.
This year's theme for
World Mental Health Day is a critical move forward in drawing attention to the
effect of long term illness on patients with major chronic disease and their
families, as well as its importance to mental health advocates. Addressing
mental health issues will lead to better outcomes, better compliance, and
improved quality of life for people who suffer from chronic illnesses. Campaign
materials will focus on proven strategies for promoting emotional and mental
well‐being while living with long term physical illness, and the role of
primary care in improving access for those who suffer from mental health and
long term health conditions. A special call to action section has been written
by seven international health professionals, intended to show us the way
forward.
World Mental Health Day
is an opportunity to meaningfully engage with people with lived experience
(PWLE) of mental health conditions and to recognize their knowledge as a vital
form of expertise. This year’s campaign calls for their voices to shape the
policies, services and decisions that affect their lives.
Lived experience is
what someone has experienced themselves, especially when it gives the
individual knowledge or understanding that people who have only heard or learnt
about such experiences do not have.The theme of World Mental Health Day 2026
has been decided as "Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real
Change".The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) hopes that
organizations around the world will organize events reflecting this theme while
also supporting the World Health Organization's initiative on deinstitutionalization.This
year, the theme reminds us of the importance of ‘mental health at work.’ Safe,
healthy working environments can act as a protective factor for mental health.
Unhealthy conditions - including stigma, discrimination, and exposure to risks
like harassment - can affect mental health.
As well as the impacts
on individuals and their families, poor mental health can lead to decreased
performance, absenteeism, and increased staff turnover. Depression and anxiety
alone result in the loss of approximately 12 billion work days each year,
costing the global economy around US$1 trillion annually.While we spend
approximately a third of our lives at work, it is easy to overlook the
importance of mental health in the workplace. For many of us, work is a
significant source of stress, anxiety, and pressure. And yet, because it is a
place where we spend most of our time, positive change created at work can make
a significant change in our lives.
Prof. John Kurakar
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