Mental Health

MENTAL HEALTH: A PERSUASIVE EDITORIAL PIECE
Legend:
___- concepts discussed by the teacher

___-rhetorical devices (alliteration, assonance, anaphora, metaphor)
___-proposition
I. Introduction and Proposition
Mental health is one of the clamoring issues in the world that’s as significant
as any other issues such as economic problems, or political issues. Mental health
comprises our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences our
thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Correspondingly, it influences how we respond to
stress, socialize with other people, and make decisions. When a person goes through
traumatic experiences, they can acquire mental health problems from that. However,
there are numerous factors that affect mental health, including biological ones like
genes, brain chemistry, or a family history of mental health issues, as well as
detrimental life events like trauma and abuse. There are now many countries
recognizing and addressing mental health issues and mental illnesses due to higher
suicide rates, but in our country-the Philippines- stigmatization and discrimination
towards mentally-ill people are still rampant. There are people who claim that mental
health is not a taboo due to the reason that Mental Health Policy has been
implemented in the country. But with the current happenings, there’s a lingering
question attached to it: Is it enough? Stigma still exists in places like schools,
workplaces, and even medical facilities among healthcare professionals who are
unaware of its significance. Hence, this paper aims to persuade the readers that mental
health is as significant as the aforementioned issues, and any other issues that are
deemed extremely substantial in the society, and mental health should not be
stigmatized. People should start helping and caring for each other genuinely in order
to address it, and make an actual change for the betterment of the country and the
people in it; implementing policies without concrete actions is not enough.
II. Support for the Propositions
According to a study conducted by Lally, et. al, mental health is not given as much
importance in the Philippines despite the rising number of children and adolescents
suffering from it. Similarly, Rivera asserts that descriptions to mental health issues in
the country seem to lack sensitivity. Most of the time, the media represents mental
illness as an association to physical harm and misconduct. Additionallyinstead of
understanding and empathizing with people suffering with it, some individuals
demonstrate humor and hatred towards them. When some Filipinos bravely confide in
web pages, in online platforms, in their homes, or to their friends, they simply get
responses like “just be happy”, or “don’t be affected, it’s just in your head.” The
knowledge of mental illness among Filipinos seems to be oversimplified, and
stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors appear to be unrestrained. It's simple to use
insulting or offensive language like "abnoy" and "baliw" in daily conversations. With
this, individuals with mental illness who are stigmatized experience many detrimental
effects such as social opportunities placed at risk. According to research conducted in
the United States, 56% of people there are reluctant to spend an evening socializing
with those who have mental illnesses, 58% are reluctant to work closely with them,
and 68% would not allow them to marry into their families. Furthermore, a study
found that, out of fear of stigmatization, more than 50% of the sample population had
purposefully kept their schizophrenia a secret from friends and coworkers.
III. Contrary Viewpoints and Reconciliation Towards it
Schizophrenia, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and

depression are the most prevalent mental illnesses in the Philippines. In 2001, the
country implemented its "first mental health policy", and after making changes in
2016 and 2018, the country finally passed the most recent revision of the Mental
Health Act. According to this law, all Filipino citizens have a fundamental right to
mental health services. The law guarantees "the full range of human rights" for
people living with mental illnesses, including the right to "participate fully in society
and at work, free from stigmatization and discrimination," and states that "mental
health services shall be free from coercion and accountable to the service users." As
for the ones The National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) crisis hotline was
established by the DOH in the Philippines in May 2019 to provide immediate mental
health services in accordance with the Mental Health Act's directive to establish a 24-
hour mental health hotline as a suicide prevention strategy. These actions mark a
significant turning point in the nation of the archipelago's psychiatric history. This
presents the opportunity to provide coherent and comprehensive mental health
services, but it also creates a number of challenges for delivering effective and
affordable mental healthcare. It is proved that only 3-5% of the total budget is
allocated to mental health issues and 70% goes toward hospital care. In 2005, 10 075
respondents of the World Health Survey revealed that 0.4% had schizophrenia
diagnoses, 14.5% had depression diagnoses, and only14% of those with depression
diagnoses were receiving treatment. It is evident that inconsistency persists in the
Philippines' mental health services.
IV. Conclusions
Approximately 1 in 5 Filipino adults suffers from a mental disorder. There are

a lot of evidences from various studies showing that mental health is still stigmatized
in the Philippines despite its efforts of implementing a mental health act. The country
should be aware that enlightening one’s mind of the problem comes right before the
solution itself. People should start perceiving things deeply, or think outside the box:
depression is not merely feeling sad, hallucinations aren’t just a result of hunger or the
lack of sleep, substance abuse isn’t just a hobby of troublemakers, and PTSD may
also be a result of natural disaster. Mental health problems are difficult experiences
that make it harder for people to get on with their lives. It can affect working and
personal relationships. As our teacher once said: person is an individual who
possesses self-awareness, self determination, rational mind, and the capacity to
interact with others ad with himself/herself, and the human person has substantial
roles in maintaining the well-being and sustainable development of the environment
they live in. Additionally, they depend on other living things and living organisms for
survival, and vice versa, so if they become irrational, irresponsible, and selfish due to
unstable mental health, or simply because some are dim-witted who can’t see that
their actions affect their surroundings, then eventually, the world and all countries will
fail to reach its blossoming peak.
V. Recommendations or Concrete Solutions
Humans are bestowed with a great gift and right called freedom. With
freedom, people have the ability to choose for themselves of what is most beneficial.
As less fortunate individuals have the freedom to work hard, seek education, and
search for methods to make their lives better, it’s the same with mentally unstable
people; they have the freedom to try with all their might to get better, or to become
worse. They have the freedom to seek help. They have the freedom to think if the
challenges they’re going through is entirely up to them, or it can be solved with the
people they value. People who are friends with mentally unstable individuals also
have the freedom to: (1) either create a safe space, or judge them; (2) either making
them feel that you’re there, or fixing things immediately; (3) either asking open-ended
questions, or pressuring them; and (4) either listening intently, or negating them
constantly. Whatever they will choose to do is completely up to them, but choosing
the former ones will not only help the people with mental health problems to slowly
cope, but also aid the environment to have a sustainable development with the gradual
improvement of the people around them. The Department of Health (DOH) thinks
that the lack of promotional programs on mental health is a reason for the
persistently high stigma in the country, so various strategies should be done such as:
increasing the awareness of the public on mental illnesses through health education
and promotion by means of integrating culture and arts due to its creativity; providing
incentives to companies which have mental health policies; and recognizing
institutions and media agencies which promote positive portrayals of people with
mental illnesses. These personal, and research-based recommendations should be
treated with grave importance, passed on to people, and implemented immediately as
to achieve a well-functioning society that promotes and protects people’s mental
health.
References:
(PDF) Mental Health Stigma Among Filipinos: Time For A Paradigm Shift. (n.d.).
ResearchGate.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326412761_Mental_Health_Stigma_Among
_Filipinos_Time_For_A_Paradigm_Shift
“Mental Health in the Philippines.” (2021, November 17). BPS Clinic.
https://www.bofillpsychologicalservices.org/post/mental-health-in-the-philippines
Mendoza, G. (2022, February 6). A Closer Look at Mental Health in the Philippines.
The Borgen Project.
https://borgenproject.org/look-at-mental-health-in-the-philippines/

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MENTAL HEALTH: A PERSUASIVE EDITORIAL PIECE

___- concepts discussed by the teacher

I. Introduction and Proposition

III. Contrary Viewpoints and Reconciliation Towards it

Schizophrenia, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and

Approximately 1 in 5 Filipino adults suffers from a mental disorder. There are

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