Experts: Mental and physical health deeply intertwined

Mental and physical health are deeply intertwined but people often tend to forget it, say experts.

“We understand that physical and mental health are related but we often forget it,” said Dr Abhi Shetty, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist, NHS, UK.

“For example, if we are sad, we get tearful which is a response to an emotional event and similarly if we stab a toe, it's painful and we become annoyed or angry. So, there is an emotional response to something which is physical. These are just day to day examples how what happens to the mind is expressed in the body and what happens to the body is expressed in the mind,” he added.

Shetty was speaking at the third installment of a series of webinars on September 24, organized by Sajida Foundation with Dhaka Tribune as the media partner.

Meanwhile, Dr Md Tariqul Islam, director, hospital, Sajida Foundation, said that most of the times, people focus on physical health and ignore their mental health.

“For addressing the health issues, we need to focus on all components (physical, mental and social) with equal importance and ensure coordination between physical and mental health practitioners,” he said.

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“We can help set up a template or protocol where a set of a general practitioners can work together with their psychiatrist colleagues in terms of sorting out the physical health needs of the population,” said Dr Haroon-ur Rashid, general practitioner, and coordinator at ELFT- BD Global Health Link Program.

Speakers at the webinar shed light on the importance of overall physical and mental health in our everyday life.

The mind-body interaction is far more powerful than people might think. Many of the physical issues like diabetes, hypertension, etc. might arise from prolonged psychological stress or other conditions and it can go vice versa, they said.

They added that despite the connection, people often tend to overlook our overall health in our day-to-day hectic lifestyle.

The speakers recommended retaining control over stress levels, seeking help for physiological as well as psychological conditions in order to maintain overall well-being.

They said that people need to stop ignoring their health and think about what they can do to promote wellness, health maintenance, and disease prevention.

Sajida Foundation’s strives to deliver meaningful and sustainable change in the lives of people from all strata.

Currently, the Sajida Foundation is moving forward with the goal of developing and delivering quality mental health services for the lower-income and ultra-poor population, through an integrated, collaborative approach backed by evidence-based research.