Real Talk

Mental Health Begins Within the Family

by Alexa Villano
November 8, 2022

At the recent National Mental Health Summit, pediatrician Dr. Francis Dimalanta, actress Nadine Lustre, and representatives of Mind You speak about the state of mental health in the Philippines.

Mental healthMental HealthA person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how children and parents think, feel, and cope. Open conversations, regular routines, and timely help from professionals make it easier for has become the forefront issue of many families today. After the pandemic forced everyone to slow down, one of the challenges that people faced is how to get their lives back on track after staying at home and stopping activities for close to three years.

During the recently concluded National Mental HealthMental HealthA person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how children and parents think, feel, and cope. Open conversations, regular routines, and timely help from professionals make it easier for Summit, questions on the state of mental health in the Philippines were discussed with actress Nadine Lustre, pediatricianPediatricianA doctor who specializes in the health of babies, children, and teens. Regular visits for checkups, growth tracking, and vaccines give parents a trusted guide, and a good pediatrician listens Dr. Francis Dimalanta, and representatives of Mind You and the Department of Health.

Dr. Francis Dimalanta: It starts with the family

PediatricianPediatricianA doctor who specializes in the health of babies, children, and teens. Regular visits for checkups, growth tracking, and vaccines give parents a trusted guide, and a good pediatrician listens Dr. Francis Dimalanta said that to address the issue of mental healthMental HealthA person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how children and parents think, feel, and cope. Open conversations, regular routines, and timely help from professionals make it easier for, most especially among children is through their mothers, especially during pregnancy.

“They’ll go through all these mental healthMental HealthA person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how children and parents think, feel, and cope. Open conversations, regular routines, and timely help from professionals make it easier for issues as well,” Dr. Dimalanta said. “What we want to prevent and want to have, what we want to buy for our children which we cannot buy is self-esteemSelf-EsteemA child's sense of their own worth and ability. Praising effort, giving responsibilities, accepting feelings, and avoiding harsh comparisons with siblings or classmates help children grow confident, kind, and willing. We want to give them not false praises but for them to be whole.”

Citing the traumas the Filipinos have been through from natural to man-made calamities, Dr. Dimalanta stressed the importance of hope.

“What we need is hope, to offer hope, not to judge any person what they are going through, and to be just full of love.”

Nadine Lustre: The pandemic became an opportunity to deal with my issues

Nadine, who in recent years opened up about her struggles with mental healthMental HealthA person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how children and parents think, feel, and cope. Open conversations, regular routines, and timely help from professionals make it easier for, recalled how she had to deal with her issues when she started in showbiz. “It’s different now because I’m older and know more,” she said. “I’ve learned lessons along the way. Before, it was really different because when I was new in the industry, I wanted to be perfect.”

“Growing up I didn’t know how to deal with my emotions because my parents really didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Doing her album at the height of the pandemic has helped Nadine come face to face with the issues that hounded her for years. “I saw the lockdown as the opportunity for me to deal with the issues that I swept under the rug,” she said.

Nadine on seeing the pandemic as a way to face the issues. #FindHope pic.twitter.com/c5iv9WjZRY
— Alexa Villano (@alexavillano) October 25, 2022

The Deleter actress also added that while the pandemic has slowed down projects for her and many artists, she believed it gave them time to reflect. “I really believe that the pandemic was a time for us to slow down and look at the things we haven’t really dealt with—just keep holding on because I really believe in timing.”

Addressing the silent pandemic

Dr. Dimalanta said it’s time that people go beyond just speaking about mental healthMental HealthA person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how children and parents think, feel, and cope. Open conversations, regular routines, and timely help from professionals make it easier for and do more action.

“This is the silent pandemic that faces us for the next 10 to 20 years,” Dr. Dimalanta said. “I think coming together with forums like this will make us available and we have to walk the talk. What is it that we can offer children especially because it goes through different levels? Those born during the pandemic have what we call social malnutrition. They are delayed by 1 year, 7 months to 2 years.”

“So we’ve been seeing all the children with special needsSpecial NeedsA broad term for children with developmental, physical, learning, or behavioral differences who need extra support. Early assessment, therapy, inclusive schooling, and a loving family help each child reach their like a 5-year-old that’s acting like a 3-year-old. Simply because they were made to stay at home and the parents have to double as a teacher and work. So each one is going through something. I would say we’re all going through the same storm but in different modes,” he added.

Dr. Dimalanta shared that one of the things they’ve been doing as pediatricians is introducing the importance of the arts. “We have to move to be inclusive. Bring back play, music, theater, and different types of arts.”

Helping forge a career path for mental health professionals

Mind You CEO Yuri Marshall said that they’ve been working closely with various private sectors and the Department of Health to put together correct data that can help them with more projects in the future.

“Sustainable career path needs to involve mental healthMental HealthA person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how children and parents think, feel, and cope. Open conversations, regular routines, and timely help from professionals make it easier for professionals feeling like they are growing in their career, too. Also, improving their skill sets [and] improving their community dynamic so that they can speak to psychologists, sociologists, guidance counselors, and workers and get access to reliable data as well,” Yuri said.

“If we have enough data, we can produce enough programs that can be tracked long term. Because mental healthMental HealthA person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being, which affects how children and parents think, feel, and cope. Open conversations, regular routines, and timely help from professionals make it easier for is not going to be a 5-year journey for us here. It’s probably going to be a 100-year journey.”

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