Yoga, Meditation and Mental Health

This assignment delves into the relationship between yoga, meditation practice, and mental well-being. It analyzes various studies that investigate the potential benefits of these practices in addressing issues like depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. The focus is on understanding how yoga and meditation can contribute to improved mental health outcomes.

HEALTH PROMOTION
PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Depression among young people with alcohol addiction in Padstow NSW ...............................1
Significance of the issue .............................................................................................................2
Project focus ................................................................................................................................2
Program goals .............................................................................................................................3
Objectives....................................................................................................................................4
Overview of project plan.............................................................................................................4
Financial resources.......................................................................................................................5
Evaluation of the program...........................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Depression is defined as the mental disorder which causes persistent mood swings,
anxiety and depressed behaviour. It causes loss of interest and thus work efficiency can be
influenced. Depression is considered as the major source of illness and can even cause disability
if not treated properly. There has been significant relation between alcohol addiction and
depression. Thus, the issue is major public health concerns and must be managed at local
community levels as well (Pascoe and Parker, 2018). The report will provide a project plan for
encouraging yoga and meditation among young generation groups so that alcohol addiction and
depression can be controlled and better life quality can be provided to the communities of
Padstow NSW, Australia.
Depression among young people with alcohol addiction in Padstow NSW
The young population groups in Padstow are at high risk of depressive disorders due to
alcohol addiction. Though there may be several other reasons for the depression but the alcohol
addicted groups have higher vulnerability of having depression. NSW health services are having
various strategies and programs to create awareness for such health issues. For instance the
health professionals and social community groups of Padstow encourages people to withdraw the
alcohol so that they can lead a better life. The health service providers refers such patients to
withdrawal management, community counselling and involuntary alcohol and drug treatment
program. However, most of the local communities in the region states that the engaged life style
makes it difficult for young people to handle stress.
There is less contribution of health care organisations towards encouraging young people
to practice meditation for controlling their drinking habits as well as psychological stress.
Padstow is having good number of yoga centres which helps people to learn and practice
meditation and yoga (Broderick and Metz, 2016). However, the number of young people
attending such classes is very low. Most of the people who attend those classes are the people
suffering from chronic diseases who desires to maintain the healthy life so that their health
condition can be maintained. Instead, if yoga practices are followed at educational and
professional institutes then it will certainly develop meditation practice from the childhood only.
The same practice will be carried to young age and dependency of depressed people on alcohol
will be reduced.
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Significance of the issue
According to Moore and et.al., (2016) the habit of consuming alcohol is increasing
significantly in NSW. At present around 17% of the total young people consumes alcohol and
out of them 6% are at highest risk of alcohol related deaths. There are various issues such as
unemployment, emotional trauma, financial crisis, chronic diseases and other health care
conditions which causes depression among adults. It has been also observed that the alcohol
addiction enhances the depressive and other psychological disorders. It is very important to
develop a local community management plan for the depression and alcohol consumption.
Depression can take severe forms as the individuals may cause harm to themselves as
well as to others. The alcohol and depression can also increase the vulnerability of other
cardiovascular, diabetes and chronic diseases. However, most of the young people of NSW are
not aware of the symptoms of mental health issue. There has been significant increase in the
alcohol related deaths and the number of people suffering from depression at the younger age.
Though antidepressants and other psychological counselling are widely preferred by the health
professionals for the treatment of depression but these are less effective (de Manincor and et.al.,
2015). However contrary to this if individuals will be encouraged to practice yoga as their
routine habit then it will help to manage the anxiety and depression.
Further there is high level of unawareness among young people regarding benefits of
yoga and depression. Thus, such health promotion projects can be beneficial in enhancing the
contribution of health professionals and local communities to support such programs. It is very
necessary to protect young generation from depressive or alcoholic disorders so that they can be
prevented from the chronic diseases and other life threatening impacts.
Project focus
The key focus of this project is to identify young generation who is suffering from
depression and is addicted of alcohol. This is one of the major obstacle in the prevention and
treatment of the depression in Padstow NSW. At present there are various yoga and meditation
centres which helps people to maintain their physical as well as mental fitness. The most
important aspect of this project is that the alcohol addicted young groups does not find yoga as
the suitable action for the remedy of their depression.
Contrary to this young generation of Padstow has strong belief that consuming alcohol
can resolve their depression issue (Wolpert and et.al., 2018). Thus, there is high need that this
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assumption needs immediate action. The yoga awareness camps and yoga centres at various
professional and educational institutes will help these young professionals to understand the
actual benefits of meditation. At present most of the youngsters does not prefer to join any yoga
classes. There are many young people who does not consider yoga as beneficial and thus they
avoid following such practices. Further there is also a need to prepare more professional and
expertise yoga trainers who can help young age groups to overcome their depression issues.
Thus, the primary focus of this project is to encourage such individuals by providing them
demonstration of yoga at their professional workplace or in schools.
When such institutes will have yoga classes then, such people will naturally develop
practice of perusing yoga. Another focus of this project is to encourage government supported
yoga centres so that more and more alcohol addicted groups can receive yoga services. Financial
resources are also one of the key challenging barriers which prevents depressed youngsters to
enrol for such classes (Cramer and et.al., 2016). So initiation of this type project will definitely
enhance the participation of the depressed and alcoholic addicted young local community of
Padstow.
Program goals
The depression and the misuse of alcohol are frequently observed health issues in young
adults. Thus, the primary goal of this project is to eliminate the alcohol addictive practices and
depression among adults by encouraging the practice of yoga and meditation art. Such practices
will help young people to manage their stress and to establish peace in their stressful life. The
increased involvement of yoga practices will decrease the dependency of people on
antidepressants. NSW assures that the local health service providers of Padstow provide suitable
drug and counselling therapy for the depression and addictive habits of consuming alcohol
(Mahlo and Tiggemann, 2016) . At the national level the Government of Australia also supports
counselling and rehabilitation centres so that young people can be guided and their mental health
can be improved. It has been also observed that the percentage of young people taking alcohol is
high as compare to any other age group.
Thus, health professionals and government support services are engaging with families so
that the drinking addiction of young people can be prevented. For this purpose the educational
awareness campaign are promoted which make people aware regarding harmful health impacts
of alcohol. The young people as well as their family members are unaware and less concerned
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regarding the mental health issues or the symptoms of depression (Wong, 2017). Thus, at
national as well as regional level yoga centres and meditation classes are conducted so that
people can learn stress management techniques. Another goal of this project is to made yoga
classes accessible to all young people so that they can identify the depressive disorders and
suitable care can be provided to them.
Objectives
Objectives are the short-term desired outcomes which helps in achieving all intended
outcomes. Mental heath issue chosen within the local community is depression which is
continuously increasing especially among Youngsters who are addicted to alcohol. Short-term
objectives of depression within Padstow NSW Australia are:
 To increase implementation of yoga and meditation class within colleges and offices for
youngsters suffering from depression who are addicted to alcohol.
 To improve mental health services in Padstow NSW Australia.
 To review all local, national or state policies related to depression.
Overview of project plan
It is important to create a project plan for any program or project as it helps in completing
a program on time. Project plan also helps in identifying the time period in which a program or
project should be completed and how it will be completed. In this all the tasks of the project are
bifurcated and a time period is decided in which that particular tasks should be completed. In
order to identify and understand statistics of increasing depression within youngsters in Padstow
NSW Australia, all the tasks will be divided into few parts which will be completed from week
to week. A brief plan of this project is as below:
Tasks 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week
Introduction of the health issue
Identify goal
Identify Population among which
depression is seen who are addicted
to alcohol
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Organise yoga and meditation classes
within organisations and colleges
Prepare to introduce yoga and
meditation classes plan
Prepare Promotion plan
Implement promotion plan to increase
yoga and meditation classes
Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of
promotion plan
Initially the population of youngsters suffering from depression who are addicted to
alcohol will be identified so that they can be interviewed and main cause of depression can be
identified. Based on this yoga and meditation classes will be organized within organisations and
colleges for youngsters suffering from depression. After this a promotion plan will be created so
that youngsters can get all the relevant information related to these yoga and meditation classes.
Lastly monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness of the plan will be seen.
Financial resources
It is extremely important to identify financial sources which are needed for a project in
order to be completed. There are various kinds of resources through which project can be funded
so that further research can be carried out (Culjak, Kowalenko and Tennant, 2016). NHS
Australian Medical centre is one of the source which can fund a project as they normally help
researchers financially by providing money for the research project so that they can complete
their research. So NHS funds are one of the most common source through which project can be
funded. Government of health is also a department that funds research projects. These are the
two main sources though which this project can be funded. Other than this there are various other
sources which will help in creating and completing the overall budget of the project such as
university under which project will be completed (Pospos and et.al., 2018). So all of these
sources will help in budgeting the project through which it can be easily completed with all the
desired outcomes.
All the resources that will be needing for completion of this research project are:
Statistical depression data will be collected from official Padstow NSW Australia Government's
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website as all the required information for depression in Youngsters with alcohol addiction
within Padstow NSW Australia can be acquired from their official website. Other information
related to depression and increasing number of depression among Youngsters can also be
obtained form bigger organisations such as NHS (Devenish, Berk and Lewis, 2016). All kinds of
approvals from will also be taken so that no ethical issues arises while completing the research
project. Other than this there are various other though which required information for the project
will be collected is past articles and journals of other researchers, online websites etc.
Evaluation of the program
A yoga and meditation classes will be organised in all universities and organisations so
that all kind of key issues due to which depression is continuously increasing within youngsters
especially ones with alcohol addiction. Youngsters suffering from depression will be interviewed
so that all kind of related information which will help in identifying causes due to which
depression is prevailing among youngsters in Padstow NSW Australia (Ridani and et.al., 2015).
Age group in which depression is maximum can also be identified and according to this yoga and
meditation classes will be organised within universities and organisations which will focus on
way through which depression among youngsters can be reduced and all the other types of
mental health issues will also be focused so that they can be reduced. These yoga and meditation
classes will also help in generating awareness about depression which is prevailing in
youngsters. This will also help in reviewing various other kinds of health policies related to
depression and if any kind of changes are required then suggestion will be given accordingly. It
has been observed that most of the individuals are unaware of depression, its causes, ways it can
be reduced and all kind of policies related to it which can help in reducing this mental health
issue (Song and Lindquist, 2015). So these classes will help individual youngsters to identify
their cause of depression, ways they can overcome through it so that they can focus more on such
issue and in future they can focus on reducing it.
Conclusion
From the above assignment it has been summarised that depression is one of the most
common health issue that continuously increasing especially among youngsters who are addicted
to alcohol. It has also been observed that Australia is the second largest country which has
highest depression rate among youngsters. In Padstow NSW Australia depression is continuously
increasing especially among youngsters. Based on the available health data and information
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significance of depression as a mental health issue had been done and on the basis of this data of
depression program goals and objectives has also been created. From the project plan it has been
observed that the complete program will of 6 weeks and the main source of finance will be
Government of health department and NHS Australian Medical centre. From the evaluation of
program it has been observed that many people are unaware of the fact that depression is a
mental health issue and for this yoga and meditation classes will be organised. It has also been
observed that there are various health related policies though which this depression can be
reduced.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Broderick, P.C. and Metz, S.M., 2016. Working on the inside: Mindfulness for adolescents.
In Handbook of Mindfulness in Education (pp. 355-382). Springer, New York, NY.
Cramer, H. and et.al., 2016. The association between regular yoga and meditation practice and
falls and injuries: Results of a national cross-sectional survey among Australian
women. Maturitas, 84, pp.38-41.
Culjak, G., Kowalenko, N. and Tennant, C., 2016. Awareness, access and use of Internet self-
help websites for depression by university students. JMIR mental health. 3(4). p.e48.
de Manincor, M. and et.al., 2015. Establishing key components of yoga interventions for
reducing depression and anxiety, and improving well-being: a Delphi method
study. BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 15(1), p.85.
Devenish, B., Berk, L. and Lewis, A.J., 2016. The treatment of suicidality in adolescents by
psychosocial interventions for depression: A systematic literature review. Australian &
New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 50(8). pp.726-740.
Mahlo, L. and Tiggemann, M., 2016. Yoga and positive body image: A test of the Embodiment
Model. Body Image, 18, pp.135-142.
Pascoe, M.C. and Parker, A.G., 2018. Physical activity and exercise as a universal depression
prevention in young people: A narrative review. Early intervention in psychiatry.
Pospos, S., and et.al., 2018. Web-based tools and mobile applications to mitigate burnout,
depression, and suicidality among healthcare students and professionals: a systematic
review. Academic psychiatry. 42(1). pp.109-120.
Ridani, R., and et.al., 2015. Suicide prevention in Australian Aboriginal communities: a review
of past and present programs. Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior. 45(1). pp.111-140.
Song, Y. and Lindquist, R., 2015. Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on depression,
anxiety, stress and mindfulness in Korean nursing students. Nurse education today. 35(1).
pp.86-90.
Wolpert, M. and et.al., 2018. Strategies not accompanied by a mental health professional to
address anxiety and depression in children and young people: a scoping review of range
and a systematic review of effectiveness. The Lancet Psychiatry.
Wong, K.A., 2017. Minor bodies: how disability is figured in children’s yoga
classes. Continuum, 31(1), pp.93-103.
Online
Moore, R, and et.al., 2016. The drinking habits of youth in NSW, Australia: latest data and
influencing factors. [Online]. Accessed through
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27714384>
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