At the turn of the century, we are standing to cross-roads of traditional values and modernity. In face the era of modernism has also passed us by
and we are not in a strange era, which sociologists and anthropologists like to call-The Era of Post-modernism. The old values are challenged
because of newer demands of survival in day to day life situations.
Mental Health and morality were closely linked in the past but
mental health today only means absence of mental ill health. Until thirty years ago, there were only few mental diseases and mental illness was
synonymous with insanity. Today insanity is only a jargon and is not found in the books on mental diseases. There are about 100 odd types of
mental aberrations and the list is ever expanding. People can be totally sane in the old sense, but still be grossly mentally sick.
There are two broad divisions between Neurosis and Psychosis.
Psychosis in severe forms is akin to insanity. Neurotic Illnesses are
definitely increasing and include such varied phenomena as Irrational belief system, misplaced fears, suspicions,
anxiety, anger, sadness, hosts of sexual
problems, the very problem of self identity,
frustrations etc. to mild to severe forms of personality disorders. There has been
immense growth in the understanding of human psychology and this knowledge in slowly raising the curtain from the hitherto masked faced of human
beings. Science is exposing human frailty. We used to talk of the relevance of upbringing and environment versus heredity and used to think that
they are two separate entities but today’s research on genetics shows how closely environment and heredity are linked.
Having sound and stable
Mental Health is the product of one’s genetically endowment and the environment influence. The
environment influences also vary a lot and a child grown up in the houses of a saint can truly to be scoundrel. The growth of the child needs to be
monitored. A very strict and disciplinarian parent can bring out rebelliousness in a child rather than obedience. A child’s problem is not his
parents but his peers. He is only worried about the reaction of the other child.
Mental health has to be watched and this can be done by looking for danger signals at the various levels of development in a child. If a child is too
fussy about food and also bites his nails and bed wets beyond reasonable age, then it definitely points towards strict home discipline or marital
discord between the parents. It certainly indicates tension in the house and usually it turns out to be fear to parents’ anger and
aggression.
The second marker is scholastic performance. An intelligent child should have no problem to cope with his school studies but if he is stressed then
his performance will deteriorate. This becomes more noticeable if the child was doing well up to a certain class and then his grades fall, there has to
be a
psychological barrier.
If the child lives in a friendly and accepting family environment and if there is freedom of expression, then such a child will develop strong self
confidence and if he is constantly ridiculed,
strained, insulted and criticized, he will have low self esteem and low self esteem is never conductive for good
learning.
Understanding and patient parents will see that the child has freedom of thought. It is surprising that our children are not given freedom of thought.
On every conceivable phenomenon standard parcels of knowledge are pushed down his throat and he has to reproduce that like a parrot and then
only he is considered a good and obedient child and a good student. Even academic performance is rated on answers which reflect memory rather
than logic. Children should be taught to think and development a questioning mind rather than just follow the routine.
Good
Mental Health depends upon the development of good insight into ones own personality and thought process. Personality
not only includes behavior but also the thinking process. Self consists of one ambition, skills and goals in life and program one adopts to achieve
these aspirations and the time factor is important. The self of child is so different than the self of a parent and both of them Unfortunately many
children are handicapped intelligence wise. Only children with average intelligence can grow into independent individuals and there the parents should
try and help them to become independent rather than enjoy their continued dependence on them.
A child will develop good attitude if he grows-up in a loving atmosphere and a doubly orphan child will never known what true love is and will be
incapable of giving love and can easily become a
tyrant or anti-social personality.
Finer aspects of personality like respect and regard for other human beings in contrast of prejudice and hatred are also learned behavior and no man
will have anyone unless he was a victim of hatred himself. It is often seen that the child of a criminal follows the same path.
Friends, parents and teachers play a tremendous role in shaping the personality of a child and unless teachers and parents themselves have proper
insight into their own self, the child will grow in a psychological vacuum. It is easier to be biological parent but hard to become a good
psychological one. Many highly intelligent children develop anti social personality with drug addiction and affinity for law breaking
only because of mismanagement at school and home. A very bright child may be intellectually arrogant and this arrogance should not meet with
punishment, otherwise he would turn out to be rebellious.
The child should learn to communicate and communication is not a one way phenomenon and had to be two ways, if it has to have any effect on the
growth of the child. There has to be proper atmosphere of trust in the family and a child growing in the atmosphere of mistrust or downright
suspicion, would not known whom to trust and how to trust.
In short good
Mental Health is not God given gift. Intelligence is certainly a divine gift and it is proper utilization of this faculty,
which can enlighten our path to good mental health.
