Mental health is one of the most important health factors to pay attention to in yourself and others. Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we act, think, and feel. Mental health also affects how bodies and minds handle stress. It helps us make choices and relate on different levels with others. Mental health is important in every stage of life. It determines behavior, how you think, and/or act against or about others.
Many factors can make you live with mental illness conditions like genes, brain activity, chemistry, trauma, abuse, or family history of mental illness. All these factors play a role in what conditions you might struggle from and live with for your life.
Antisocial personality disorders.
Anxiety disorders. including panic disorders, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), phobias, and social anxiety.
ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder)
BPD (borderline personality disorder)
Bipolar disorder
Depression
Eating disorders (anorexia, nervosa, binge eating, and bulimia nervosa)
PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder)
Schizophrenia
SAD (seasonal affective disorder)
These are signs you can realize that the person, friend, or family member is struggling with their mental health. The signs consist of self-harm (cutting, burning, hitting, punching, piercing the skin, breaking your bones, bruising yourself), thinking of harming themself and/or others, drug/alcohol abuse, eating or sleeping too much/too little. Also outside from friends/family/usual activities, having little to no energy, feeling numb emotionally, helpless or hopeless feelings, fighting with family or friends, severe mood swings(can affect relationships), having specific thoughts/memories that they can't get out of your head. And hearing voices and/or seeing people that are not there, having thoughts and believing them to be true, lastly, unable to perform their normal daily activities like work/school.
There are many more signs that could tell you someone is struggling. If you see anything that could be a sign, tell a trusted person in your life and try to help the person, be there for them and let them talk to you but don't force them to. It's not easy to open up about these kinds of things, and if they do open up they dont want you to go telling everybody about it, they want you to keep it to yourself unless they say you can tell others.
Stick to a treatment plan(even if you feel better or you don't have your condition anymore never stop taking your medication and don’t stop going to therapy)
Keep your primary doctor updated(they are very important even if you see a psychiatrist)
Practice good self care(handle stress with hobbies and/or medication, eat healthy, exercise, and get enough sleep)
Reach out to family and/or friends(having good relationships is important, have people you trust to reach out to if needed)
Have healthy coping skills to use that can make a crisis or just times of stress go by easier
In conclusion, mental illness is one of the most looked down upon things people go through. Many people look over it, make fun of and bully people who struggle with it. Many people think it's fake and that people make it up, but it is very much real. It is one of the hardest things to go through in life. I wrote this to hopefully open many people's eyes that it is important to know about these things. In case someone you know is struggling, you need to know they are not faking and you need to be their trusted person and be there for them.
Works Cited
“About Mental Health.” CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm. Accessed 22 May 2024.