A religious sister who works in a suicide prevention center, writes
in the Catholic Times asking the readers to take time out and look
inside. She begins with a program she watched on TV where an entertainer
was treated for a panic attack. A rather large number of entertainers
she tells us suffer from these panic attacks.
She
wasn't familiar with this problem but now is quite in the know. There
are many people that are not able to control their anger and indignation which cause the death or injury of another. Is our own psyche and those of others healthy?
In a survey made in 2011
one of four persons have at least one period with mental problems in
their life time. However, because of societies prejudice and lack of
understanding instead of receiving help many try to escape with drink, drugs,
games, gambling, and the like. These methods don't only give birth to
other problems but makes the initial problem more pronounced.
The
government last year working to better mental health is strengthening
the capabilities of these combine forces in society. Little has changed, she says, in
the way we look on mental disabilities. Which requires that we
look at ourselves and start making some changes in our thinking.
Wanting
to be healthy we work at exercising, and take helpful medicines but we
don't realize in actual fact what is necessary. We are so occupied, excuse ourselves with a lack of time, or absorbed with material things.
We don't take time to examine our emotions, pass ourselves off as happy
persons, in control of anger and irritability until it's let loose in
strange places and with persons with no connection to the out of control emotions. Have we not all experienced such events and failed to uncover the
reasons for the outbursts?
When by force we repress our
emotions they become more overwhelming and will affect us when we are
least prepared and will prepare us for mental difficulties in the
future. We should not only be conscious of our joys and happiness but
also indignation, sadness, anger and the like. There is no bad
emotion, its what we do with the emotions that is important.
When
we realized that we are often angry, distressed and acknowledge the
situation we are beginning to sublimate the situation and we are in
control and the owner of the emotion. This is not easily done but
we have to spend time making the effort to examine our inner life which
will make our life with others and ourselves less hectic. She hopes the article will help readers do that.