Dime, Alyssa Hanna C.

1. Why is it important to discuss Mental Health?

I think that there’s a spectrum of emotions that correlate with the word mental health, so we
have different experiences with navigating our own way around mental health, with that, I think
it’s important to understand how Mental health should be understood not cured. We all have
different experiences with mental health and that alone shows how important it is to be discussed
especially because Mental health can affect not only our well-being but with the people around us
as-well.

2. How does poor mental health affect you? (If kaya mag mention ng anything na kaya irelate
yung situation sa lasallian core values/virtues or sa life ni saint John)

Poor mental health has especially taken a toll on me during the pandemic, seeing as we as new
students to Lasalle, I personally felt anxious and uneasy the first few months of the school year
because not only are we in a pandemic but I’m entering a new learning environment, I guess I didn’t
have the time to adjust to the environment. Over time I learned that we were experiencing the same
thing and it made me feel at ease somehow. Knowing that there’s a sense of belongingness and
validity to my emotions.

3. Why do you think our country does not see mental health as a serious issue that needs to be
addressed?

The Philippines sees mental health as something to cure and not recover from, generally they think
that poor mental health is something that our mind created for itself to suffer from and that’s the
major stigma of their perspective. Filipinos usually take physical illnesses more seriously over
Mental Illness because they rationalize illness if they see it before them, but they fail to realize that
Mental health is just as serious as Physical health.

4. Prior to the pandemic, how would you rate your mental health from 1-10 and why?

I don’t have a definite answer since my mental health is not the most stable, it changes with how I
feel, but over-all I’d say within the range of 5-6, I’m not overly happy and I’m not sad either

5. Did you have a hard time dealing with your mental health this pandemic compared to what
you were dealing with before the pandemic?

I had a hard time understanding what I was feeling, because the pandemic paved the way into more
time with my thoughts, so I usually overthink whenever I’m left with my thoughts and nobody else.
My mental health was better before the pandemic when we all had the privilege of being with other
people without physical restrictions.

6. How did you improve your mental health? What were your coping mechanisms?

Lame pero I usually write or type in my notes, usually it contains my thoughts or doubts I
have, so when the time comes when I feel a little lower than before I look back to my thoughts
before and it just shows my progress, may nagsabi na one step forward, 3 steps back lol so I try
my best to remind myself of the progress I make so I can take more steps forward.