Correspondent
Serendip gardens, an NGO based in Dimapur which focuses on mental health creating awareness in the state, held an open mic on mental health, on the theme “your story’’, here, at D café on Friday.
Speaking to Nagaland Post, Bokatoli Sumi, who is pursuing her masters in Psychology shared about stigmas surrounding mental illness.
While stating that many termed it as “violent” or “demon possessed”, Bokatoli said the years of childhood played an important role when it came to mental health.
The peak age when onset mental illness occurs is adolescence and early adulthood during 14-15 years of age, she informed.
She said that the issue of mental health was also a health issue and that one should not separate mental health and physical health.
In this regard, she urged upon the people to seek professional help before it was too late.
Bokatoli said mental health conditions made up an increasing proportion of overall disability in the society and treating its conditions was “every doctor’s business”.
She added that mental health should be given the same priority as expected when attending to physical health needs.
Meanwhile, Daewon Nongrem, who is working as a counselor said he used to suffer from depression. He shared his journey and how he overcame it at the time of the pandemic.
He said his goal was to create awareness and make the public know about services and help available for victims of mental health.
Daewon further said that Nagaland had produced “great response from his experiences”.