Akal College of Nursing organizes International Nursing Conference on ‘Global Perspectives on Better Mental Health’

By Samachar Vishesh News

Chandigarh 20th October:- Akal College of Nursing, in collaboration with Drexel University, Philadelphia, organised it’s eighth, two-days  International Nursing Conference on ‘Global Perspectives on Better Mental Health’. Four Resource persons from Philadelphia, USA, one from UK, one from Holland and fourteen from Ludhiana, New Delhi, Gurgaon Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Faridkot, Rishikesh participated to bring forth their perspectives on the issue. 

Carol Okupniak, Associate professor and conference resource person, Drexel University, USA, who participated in the conference said that there are two kinds of stresses, right and wrong. The right kind of stress help sharpen the mind, reflexes, escape a dangerous situation but the other kind, the wrong one are physical (chest pain, headache etc.), emotional (sadness, depression, etc.), cognitive (impaired concentration, chronic worrying etc.) and behavioural (drug abuse, desire for social isolation etc.). Attaining mindfulness which is a state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique, one can tackle mental illness.

Prof. Manju Chhugani, Dean, School of Nursing Science and Allied Health, Jamia Hamdard University, Delhi, said, depressive disorders account for close to 41.9% of the disability from neuropsychiatric disorders among women compared to 29.3% among men. Leading mental health problems of the older adults are depression, organic brain syndromes and dementias. A majority are women. An estimated 80% of 50 million people affected by violent conflicts, civil wars, disasters, and displacement are women and children. Lifetime prevalence rate of violence against women ranges from 16% to 50%. At least one in five women suffers rape or attempted rape in their lifetime.

Dr. Shreyasi Sharma, Consultant Fetal. Medicine, CK Birla Hospital for Women, Gurgaon, said, pregnancy and the arrival of a newborn indicate towards a time of unparalleled change and hope for the future. For many women, however, it is a challenging time; for a few it might be overshadowed by mental illness, which most of the times is under expressed, remains undiagnosed or untreated. The spectrum of disorders includes depression, anxiety disorders, and post-partum psychosis, usually manifesting as bipolar disorder. More common among these are depression and anxiety disorders, having a prevalence rate of almost 20% during pregnancy and the first 3 months postpartum.,

Nurses also have an imperative role to play. Despite of their professional challenges they have to be compassionate towards the mentally ill patients.

A three-sixty-degree approach has to be adopted that combines, right treatment, at right time, with holistic treatment approaches.