World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.

Adolescence is a crucial period for developing and maintaining social and emotional habits important for mental well-being. An estimated 10–20% of adolescents globally experience mental health conditions, yet these remain under diagnosed and under treated.

Emotional disorders commonly emerge during adolescence. In addition to depression or anxiety, adolescents with emotional disorders can also experience excessive irritability, frustration or anger. Symptoms can overlap across more than one emotional disorder with rapid and unexpected changes in mood and emotional outbursts.

Globally, depression is the fourth leading cause of illness and disability among adolescents aged 15–19 years and fifteenth for those aged 10–14 years. Anxiety is the ninth leading cause for adolescents aged 15–19 years and sixth for those aged 10–14 years. Social withdrawal can exacerbate isolation and loneliness. At its worse, depression can lead to suicide.

Nutritional neuroscience is an emerging discipline shedding light on the fact that nutritional factors are intertwined with human cognition, behavior, and emotions.  Depression is more typically thought of as strictly biochemical-based or emotionally-rooted. On the contrary, nutrition can play a key role in the onset as well as severity and duration of depression. Many of the easily noticeable food patterns that precede depression are the same as those that occur during depression. These may include poor appetite, skipping meals, and a dominant desire for sweet foods.

M.Sc. Specialized Dietetics, Department of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics, Sir Vithaldas Thackersey College of Home Science (Empowered Autonomous Status), in collaboration with Department of Human Development would organise a half day Seminar on Significance of  Nutrition in  Mental Health & Illness and behaviour change. It would be a student led seminar comprising of lectures by eminent personalities in the field of nutrition and mental health followed by an interactive workshop.