Alexis G.

Lopez
BEED-II Block-20

Reflection paper about the webinar

First of all, I would like to thank to Pinas Forward PH for having a livestream to talk
about Mental Health in the Pandemic. I learned a lot from the webinar, from the host and to the
other guest that shares their knowledge and experience to help cope with mental health problems.

In the beginning of the webinar, I learned from Riyan Portuguez when he shared about
how to distinguish about mental health problems with yourself or self-diagnose. He shared about
5 D’s (distress, dysfunctionality, deviance, dangerousness, duration). Distress, in this case the
sufferers would feel distraught and uncomfortable dealing with the symptoms of their illness.
Dysfunctionality, this is when mental illness starts to hinder the everyday function of the person.
Deviance is what defines abnormality to a certain extent is being different from the norm.
Dangerousness is those who pose a threat on themselves or on people around them are
considered abnormal.

Also, Riyan tells that it is need a recognition on what we really felt inside. It is important
to express it specially if we do have a problem. He said that it is normal if we encounter
discomfort and we have to recognize it. That’s why family and friends are very important in
these cases. It is good if we always reach out those friends or family who are not okay because
they really need to talk someone to. That’s why for me sitting silently to a friend who is hurting
maybe the best gift we can give.

From Bea Lee, she said that its very helpful that we know how long we use social media.
She said that there are times we feel so down of what we see on social media because we can’t
control to compare ourself to others. The lesson I have learned is that we have to avoid those
things that make us feel so down try make a way to cope with it. We don’t have to compare
ourselves to others because we all different in time, situations and experiences.

From Doc Gia, choose your battles. There are also battles of mine that are non-
negotiables. I learned that in life there is a lot of enemies, someone who always tend to provoke
you and someone for nonsense. We to always keep in mind that we don’t have to fight back all
the time, we have to avoid from negative and toxic peoples, we have to focus on ourself and be
positive always.

Lastly, Doc Miles said that you are not alone. In this time of crisis, we are in the same
turbulent sea. I learned that we all people are facing problems, physical or mentally in this
pandemic what we have to do is to be positive always and try to help others and also don’t be
afraid to ask some help too. Because Riyan said that Mental health is the science of self-love.

Being able to be your true self is one of the strongest components of good mental health.
In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into
safety. Just because no one else can heal or do your inner work for you doesn't mean you can,
should, or need to do it alone.