One hundred and ninety-three member states are simultaneously working on the SDGs. Hopefully, this global focus on the importance of mental health, among other things, helps people understand it, and appreciate it, better. Quick read: • • • • • Mental health is a person’s ability to sustain healthy mental activities. One’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being fall under mental health. Without good mental health, a person can’t be completely healthy. Like education and shelter, mental health is a basic human right. The United Nations recognizes the importance of mental health globally. Your Mental Health Dictionary Sources: Fajutagana, N. (2021, July 15). Learning Sessions on the Right to Mental Health—CHR: Dignity of All [Webinar]. Commission on Human Rights. Ansabe, C., Gaba, A., & Yang, J. (2018, December). Mental Health is a Human Right. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/international/pi/2018/12/mental-health-rights Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, June 28). About Mental Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm Cosgrove, L., Shaughnessy, A. (2020). Mental Health as a Basic Human Right and the Interference of Commercialized Science. PubMed Central, 15 (1), 61-68. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC7348431/ United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.) Do You Know All 17 SDGs? United Nations. https://sdgs.un.org/goals It’s difficult to sound authoritative when you don’t know which words to use. Mental Health is a deep well of information full of confusing terms. Take a look at the definitions of these terms and commit them to memory. Addiction – a chronic, relapsing disease involving brain reward, motivation, memory, and related circuitry. It’s a circuitry dysfunction that becomes apparent in biological, social, psychological, and spiritual manifestations. People with addiction are consistently unable to control their behavior. More often than not, they are not aware of their behavior, which impairs their relationships and makes it difficult for them to function according to norms. Depression – a common mental disorder where the person experiencing it loses all interest in their daily routine. They are unable to sleep, eat well, focus, and take good care of themselves. In extreme cases, depression can lead to suicide. Discrimination – when a person or group is treated differently from the rest because of some generalized traits they may have. In the case of people living with mental health disabilities, they experience discrimination because they may not react to situations as everyone else would. People are generally afraid of anything they don’t understand; and so their natural reaction, albeit cruel, would be to shun anyone acting differently. 9 10