This World Mental Health Day (10th October) mental health expert Noel McDermott looks at how our current world can be quite frightening for many and how we can commit to finding ways of developing emotional safety for ourselves and our loved ones. Let’s make this World Let’s Be Safe Day by creating psychological and mental safety.

Noel comments: “There is a scene in the Dune film where the hero recites a mantra involving the words ‘fear is the mind killer’ and it is as a statement perfectly true. There is also a saying from a behavioural psychologist which states ‘we are afraid of the bear because we run away from it, we don’t run away because we are afraid’”.

What does this mean and how does it affect our mental health?

Creating Safety in Our Herd

Throughout modern human history (modern meaning psychological) the dual nature of experience has been formulated and reformulated, the white wolf and the dark wolf, the angel and the demon, for Freud eros versus Thanatos and in neurological framings amygdala versus frontal lobe. There is in our nature a dual fascination that is born on survival, with what is dangerous and what is safe. Maintaining a general sense of safety and being safe in our herd versus getting away from a dangerous event.

There is much in the news and the world that makes us want to run away from the bear, but the problem with this is if we do it, it only makes us want to run away more often and faster. We inadvertently reinforce the fear and we get more and more jumpy. The link to mental health problems is that fear makes us ill, quite literally, in all our affairs. Psychologically, relationally and physically too much fear makes us ill.

Luckily we know lots about this so there is plenty we can do. It all fits into a broad theme of creating a sense of psychological safety in the face of a world that does seem quite hostile at the moment. Fear and running away is one half of staying safe, the other half is in our higher functioning (thinking) and our social nature.



Focus firstly on higher functioning, for example:
Talk about what worries you, write it in a journal. Improve your own emotional intelligence (your emotional vocabulary) around your own internal functioning

Learn what thoughts are helpful and what thoughts need to be put into your internal paper shredder (CBT thought records are a good tool)

Learn to manage your relationship to your mind by practicing techniques that give you perspective on your internal dialogue: therapy, meditation, yoga

Read lots, play music, paint, go to the theatre, visit art galleries. All arts are higher functioning and also emotional intelligence activities

Message five friends and ask each one to give you five ideas of intellectual and emotionally intelligent activities

Go back to college and learn new skills…keep your brain active



Secondly, let’s take time to look at our social nature:
Before you diagnose yourself as anxious or depressed, first check you are not surrounded by fools … well go on, check and if you are, change your surroundings

The ability to deal with life's stresses resiliently comes from the extent of your supporting social network. The broader your network is, the kinder and more loving and tolerant it is the better you will cope. Oddly enough if you surround yourself with angry intolerant people you won’t be able to cope as well!

Get out of your comfort zone socially. Our brain is like our body, to keep it fit we need to exercise the whole of it and to encourage it to grow. The way to do that is by meeting new people with a range of personalities and life experiences. The eeriest way to do that is to go on courses and activity groups, even better if you set them up for yourself. There is nothing quite like emotional cat herding (organising those who don’t know each other) around an activity to give your mind a workout!

Spread the love - volunteer to help the less fortunate, get involved in making the world a better and kinder place, preach about kindness and tolerance

Smile…lots and lots of smiles!

Mental health expert Noel McDermott comments: “For this year's World Mental Health Day set aside five minutes to imagine the most beautiful, safe and loving place you can dream up and spend some time there in your mind…then repeat every day for ever”.

Noel McDermott

Mental health expert Noel McDermott is a psychotherapist and dramatherapist with over 30 years’ work within the health, social care, education, and criminal justice fields. His company Mental Health Works provides unique mental health services for the public and other organisations. Mental Health Works offers in situ health care and will source, identify and co-ordinate personalised teams to meet your needs – https://www.mentalhealthworks.net/