Stress is now part and parcel of life. IT would never be possible to get rid of it entirely, but it is very much possible to better manage and thus reduce the stress levels. Stress is often a sign from the body telling you to take a break or to take it easy.

Definition of Stress

Stress is a signal passed by the body to the mind that something is not very great and it needs attention. Historically, the stress in our body is a sign to take care of our surroundings from predators and other natural reasons. It is the self-defense of our body to keep us safe.

Is all stress bad

Stress like many other things is required to survive. Stress is used to keep yourself safe from conditions that can harm you. This is the caveman response which is inbuilt in us humans. Stress would seldom come alone, it will play with your body, like making your sleep schedule go all over the place, lack of motivation to complete basic tasks, etc.

Causes of stress

Stress has various triggers. For young people, the sources of stress can be, stress from the friend group, chaos from household or the pressure of assignments and exams from parents as well as teachers.

Stress should never be taken lightly. You should always keep an eye on yourself and your loved ones to ensure that you do not fall victim to stress. You should also invest some time in leisure activities so that you don’t end up in a bad situation.

Hello, my name is Abdulaziz Alotaibi from Kuwait. I am a medical student at the Royal Collage of Surgeon in Dublin. In the last year I was in a small town called Tralee doing a foundation year. It was a very great year to start the journey of medicine as I built there many relationships and also I learned how to interact and respect people of diverse cultures. These two things in my opinion are the key to make students professional in their professions . I came from Tralee with enough confidence and enthusiasm to start a new life in Dublin. It is really an honor for me to be chosen for this elective which seeks to raise mental health awareness. Raising mental health awareness is very important to eliminate a great misconception for the mentally ill. Many think these people are lazy or even crazy due to the lack of awareness. While these people could have stress, anxiety or bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, mental health is neglected compared to the physical health. So, by raising awareness, mental health could be seen as an illness and be managed by treatment and not be isolated from the physical health conditions such as diabetes, blood pressure and cancer. In this elective, I will do my best to make this issue a priority to the public by raising their awareness and therefore producing a flow of attention which will lead to improvements to those who are mentally ill on their policy, research and service development.

The Resilience Series videos that we’ve viewed were really interesting and inspirational, and they have all shown us different examples of people struggling with depression. The 4 videos we decided to write about are the ones by David Gillick, Pat Caslin, Marian Keyes, and Senator David Norris. They all had something in common, and that it’s always recommended for any of us to seek support from the people we care about when we struggle with depression. What they didn’t have in common are their reasons for suffering from depression. David Gillick was suffering from his depression due to his career-ending injuries, Pat Caslin was suffering from multiple Sclerosis that prevented him from being able to walk, Marian Keyes suffered from her alcohol addiction and her misguided belief on how being happy all the time is the only way to live, and Senator Norris suffered from the negativity of the media towards him.

We found it to be quite inspiring how Senator Norris acknowledged how precious and important every bit of life is, and we loved how he emphasised that even if we only ever have a short time left in our lives, that short time is still quite meaningful. The world hasn’t ended as long as you’re still breathing, and if the world hasn’t ended then there’s still so much to be done in this world. One of the lessons that we’ve learned from Marian Keyes is that it’s completely normal for our lives to have any downsides to them and that what isn’t normal is being able to lead completely perfect lives full of nothing but happiness. We have to accept that certain things are never under our control in life, but that also doesn’t mean we should dwell on them either. Pat Caslin’s talk about focusing on the positive things that are in your life instead of whatever it is that’s negative about it is also quite important, and he is right about the fact that we still have a lot that many don’t even have the luxury of acquiring at any point in their lives. David Gillick talking about vowing to better himself for the sake of his newborn child was really touching, and it can apply to people other than your newborn child. Anyone that cares about you will most certainly be affected if your suicidal thoughts get the better of you, and you might even bring the same pain that you’ve suffered from into the people that cared about you. Getting past your depression will not just prevent your life from being ruined, but it also prevents the lives of your loved ones from being ruined as well.

The lessons that we’ve learned from all those videos were interesting, inspiring, and entirely relevant to the day-to-day life that we’re living through, and we highly recommend watching these videos as we believe that they hold important life lessons that anyone of any age will find to be extremely useful. It’s quite important to have the right mindset and outlook on your life in order to combat depression, but it’s still quite important to have someone to support you while you do so. This world isn’t just going to be completely positive or completely negative, but it will always be a mix of both positivity and negativity.

My name is Mishari Alshamary, and I’m really passionate about dealing with mental health and human psychology. I always viewed the mental health of one’s self as one of the primary things in life for any human to look after, and we would never have any functional societies to live in without a mentally healthy populace. I believe that everyone should take care of their mental health just as much as their physical health however, I’ve seen far more focus on the latter and the former seems to be neglected by a large number of people, and mental health stigmas can be one of the many reasons to blame for this. My dream is to help out the effort of providing more mental health support and getting rid of the stigma that surrounds mental health.

My name is Maryam Alshuaili. I’m a medical student in RCSI. I am happy to join Harbour to Harbour Walk for raising mental health awareness. I believe that mental health is an important topic that should be discussed and known by society at large. It is important because people face daily challenges and difficulties, which can lead to some mental issues. For this reason, people should know how to overcome these difficulties. They should also learn some strategies and tips to help them maintain their mental health to avoid mental issues. By participating in Harbour to Harbour Walk, I can raise my awareness about mental health and share what I’ll learn with my family and friends.

Stopping Youth Mental Health Stigma

On the 12^thof February, we attended an aware lecture under the title of Stopping Youth Mental Health Stigma in St. Patrick’s University Hospital. This lecture was given by Prof. Eilis Hennessy who is a professor in developmental psychology. As medical students, we should know more about mental health because it’s related to our elective topic, which includes raising our awareness about it. This was the first time we ever attended a lecture about the youth mental health stigma and how to stop it because the community does not concentrate on such an issue however, the professor mentioned that mental health stigma is a societal issue. I was surprised by the small number of attendants and that some of them were suffering from different mental health issues and the others were students and professors. The professor manged to deliver the lecture in such a clear and simple way in a short amount of time despite the fact that the topic was highly branched. We liked her way in using examples to clarify the topic. Moreover, her language was clear and understandable to the point where all the attendants were paying attention and participating. What we liked the most was that the professor was explaining the questions before asking them, which gave us the opportunity to understand the questions and attempt to answer them. The professor allocated time for questions and participation at the end of the lecture and a student, who had bipolar disorder when he was 15, described the effects of the stigma he faced from the society and people surrounding him. Overall, it was a great opportunity to raise our awareness and improve our knowledge about mental health and how mental health patients are affected by the stigma they receive from the community. Having the lecture in the hospital has also given us the chance to visit mental health services department.