World Mental Health Day, 2025
World Mental Health Day takes place every year on October 10.
This year, the day’s theme is “Access to Services – Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies”.
While dangerous or highly stressful situations can be devastating, they are far more common than many people realize. Around 64% of Canadian adults report experiencing at least one potentially psychologically traumatic event in their lifetime.[1] Most commonly, these include transportation accidents, physical assault, and life-threatening illness or injury.
However, despite almost two-thirds of Canadians experiencing these types of events, a much smaller proportion (8.5%) experience the intrusive thoughts or images, negative changes in thinking or mood, avoidance of situations that resemble the traumatic event, and problems with sleep, concentration, hypervigilance, and irritability that are known as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Why is this the case?
When a person experiences a traumatic event, the parts of their brain responsible for instinctive fight-flight-freeze reactions are activated. They often don’t have control over what their immediate reactions will be or which of these instincts will take over. Once the danger is over and their immediate reaction subsides, they may begin the process of making sense of what happened. Traumatic events can fundamentally challenge the way people understand the world around them and themselves, and they may wonder if the world is as safe as they once believed or if they bear some responsibility for what happened.
This is a natural process that represents a normal, healthy reaction to abnormal circumstances.
Because of the high stress, however, it is easy for people to form inaccurate beliefs about the experience, such as thinking that they could or should have done something to prevent it or having difficulty distinguishing ongoing threats from those that they experienced previously.
Having opportunities to talk about the incident, identify the thoughts or beliefs that have formed related to it, and check any assumptions they have made in forming these ideas can help facilitate the natural recovery process.
Access to Services
Having access to trusted supports, such as family, friends, or mental health professionals, is an important factor in encouraging a healthy processing of the event.
Rates of PTSD are higher for those with:
- lower household incomes,
- less education, and
- without significant relationships.
Forming communities and networks to support people through these difficulties is a great form of preventative care.
How Can I Take Care of Myself?
If you have experienced a stressful event, there are some things you can do to help care for yourself:
- Talk about the experience with trusted supports. They may be able to share new information about the experience to provide additional context, and the act of talking helps your brain regulate itself.
- Notice and respect the emotional experiences that follow the event. It’s very normal to experience a wide range of emotions, and they can all be part of that normal reaction to abnormal circumstances.
- Take note of any thoughts or beliefs that go along with uncomfortable emotions. Notice what stories you begin to tell about the event, yourself, or the world around you. The stress of the situation makes it likely that these stories involve some inaccuracies.
- Remember that while your reactions (e.g., low mood, anxiety, intrusive thoughts) may be uncomfortable, they are likely not dangerous. Avoiding these reactions can get in the way of a natural recovery process by not giving you opportunities to challenge or disconfirm inaccurate beliefs.
Additional Supports
The Canadian Psychological Association strongly recommends:
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT),
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT),
- Cognitive Therapy (CT), and
- Prolonged Exposure (PE)
as treatments to address changes in thinking, mood, and behaviour in response to a traumatic incident. There are also some medications that can be effective in the treatment of PTSD. Consult with a licensed mental health practitioner or physician to find the treatment options that are right for you.
Conclusion
Catastrophes and emergencies are an unfortunate reality. While we work to create a world where these events become rare, making sure that people have access to supports and resources is an important step in helping people recover from these experiences fully.
This blog was written by Kevin Kristjanson, CSCM Psychologist Candidate.
If you are an athlete struggling with your mental health, please remember that CSCM offers mental health supports to CSCM athletes, and all Sport Canada carded athletes and their coaches are also offered subsidized mental health support through Game Plan. Anyone else who needs mental health support is encouraged to consult with a licensed mental health practitioner or physician to find the treatment options that are right for you.
