World Mental Health Day 2021: History, Theme, and Significance

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been celebrating World Mental Health Day every year, on the 10th of October (since 1992) and this year’s theme is to focus on – ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World’.

Mental health issues are extremely important to be addressed, especially in today’s date when almost every second person is suffering from trauma, stress, or anxiety.

Furthermore, the pandemic has had some serious impacts on people’s mental health, as the world came to standstill, all of a sudden, and we were forced to stay indoors for a considerable period of time, maintaining social distancing from friends and family.

The medical practitioners and frontline works have been putting in their best efforts to save the lives of people, while their families deal with the fear psychosis of how they can be safe.

Students have been catching up on their daily lessons over video calls, and corporate workers are keeping up with work online. The entire system has suffered globally, leading to immense neurological disorders.

World Mental Health Day 2021 Theme

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been celebrating World Mental Health Day every year, on the 10th of October (since 1992) and this year’s theme is to focus on – ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World‘.

Back in past, this day was marked to address the improvement in the quality of Mental Health Services throughout the world, but over time, the WHO decided to focus on specific themes, in order to promote public awareness about mental health issues.

We all are conscious about the immense discrimination that prevails in the current times – black people live a more marginalized life than their white counterparts; body-shaming is a major problem affecting teenagers; LGBTQ people are at more risk of suicidal behavior and self-harm than those who are sexually straight; so on and so forth.

As a part of this year’s Mental Health Day agenda, WHO aims to provide a voice to the people who are experiencing this inequality – and if you are one who has been through mental health issues (and survived) or has any suggestions/ guidance to offer those who are dealing with the woes – then now is the time to raise your voice and inspire others to live a better life.

“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” — Dan Millman.