The effects of negative emotions on Mental Health, General well Being and Society
Mental Health is a state of mental well being that enables people to cope with stress of life, realise their abilities, learn well, work well and contribute to the community. You cannot contribute meaningfully to community development without good health and well being anchored on healthiness of mind and body. Good emotions accompanied by a Resilient mindset promotes mental health, mental stability and well being. This is because mental health and well being revolve around a resilient mindset and positive coping skills. Indeed, the importance and impact of good health and well being on a society cannot be overemphasised hence it's inclusion by United Nations in the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda (3): Good Health and Well Being. Little wonder the popular saying that "Health Is Wealth’’.
Sometimes, we are plunged into difficult situations because of our emotions.
Emotion is key to what happens to the mindset. It is a strong feeling derived from one’s mood or circumstance. Your emotion can be positive and negative. It becomes positive when you allow the positive mindset to overshadow you and becomes negative when you allow fear, unhappiness, anxiety, stress, indecision among others, to take possession of one’s mindset.
Negative emotions negatively impact what we do, the way we see things, behave and our overall perception of issues and their interpretations. Negative emotions lead to behaviours that are linked to negative options such as journey to crime, societal misconduct, suicide, drugs and substance addictions, violent behaviours amongst others.
This is why emphasis has been on negative emotions because of its huge negative consequences and impact on persons and society at large. Negative Emotions can be described as any feelings which cause one to be miserable and sad. They can make one to dislike oneself and others, reduce confidence, self esteem as well as general life satisfaction. They stop us from thinking, reasoning and behaving rationally and from seeing situations in their true perspective. When this happens, we tend to see and remember only what we want to remember, usually the negatives.
In our society today there exist a whole lots of issues seeming uncontrollable and which have perpetually kept man in a state of negative emotions. They include economic or financial hardship, social injustice, lack of employment opportunities, business and relationship failures, intimidations, greed, racial segregation and discrimination amongst others. The aforementioned are considered as push factors to traumatic situations and leave one with negative emotions and mental health challenges and the resultant consequences of negative choices or options such as journey to crime, social misconduct(attack on our values), substance and drug addiction, suicide, violent behaviours etc as positive coping methods or a way of resolving their negative emotional crisis. No doubt, this has caused huge losses in financial, material and human terms to individuals, corporate organisations and governments at all levels even at international levels.
Negative Emotions are just like an ill wind that blows no body any good because they revolve around the mindset which controls our mental state and there is no apparatus to determine what is contained in everybody's mindset be it positive and negative.
True to fact, negative influences and emotions expose one to overthinking which can lead to unhappiness, anxiety, indecision, negativity, isolation, insomnia, fear, exhaustion, mental stress, loss of productivity and community cohesion, leading to crisis. All these and more can also motivate offending or suicide as well as violent behaviours (extremism) and untimely (sudden) death.
To achieve sustainable development while keeping in mind that human capital development is important, huge attention must have to be paid to issues around mental health and well being considering the fact that a healthy nation that is anchored on its people with improved mental health and well being is a wealthy nation.
It is recommended that community interventions aimed at stabilising emotions as well as awareness program on mental health and well being should be encouraged in order to bring all to the knowledge of the essence of mental health and well being. Such interventions should also seek to address those issues that leave one with negative emotions by providing message of hope and compassion. There should be free community mental health checks with counselling to help stabilise emotions and prevent journey to negative options. People should be encouraged not to bottle up their anger and emotions but to always seek professional help from mental health counsellors. High Performance community sports centres and ultra modern recreational parks with facilities for multi sports activities should be encouraged in our communities to help stabilise emotions, encourage resilient mindset and promote self discoveries. Another important aspect is a framework to help address social injustices. These and many more in no small measures will help in addressing issues of negative emotions, mental health and well being which motivate offending and journey to crime in our society.
The writer Ebere Amaraizu is an Olympic Solidarity sports administration and manager, Trainer and Expert On PREVENT Serious and Organised Crime (SOC Policing) & U.S Government IVLP Alumni Member.
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