In today’s scenario, looking after your own mental health, mood & emotional wellbeing is as important as taking care of your physical health. Even in these fast-growing and moving cities, talking about mental health is a matter of concern. One has to take care of it. One has to keep in mind, working on the positive strategies to come up during difficult times in their life and things that can keep them motivated towards life.
In today’s outgrowing scenario, 1 in 5 people will experience some of the other mental health issues and more importantly, people are a bit ashamed of opening up in front of anyone about their mental health issues.
If you are facing some difficult times, there is nothing to be ashamed of it.
In fact, it is important to talk about it to your family, friends, close ones, doctors and seek help and support, who could help them to overcome mental health issues and live happily
Maintain good mental health:
- 6-8 hours of suggested sleep
- Have a proper and balanced diet
- Avoid alcohol, smoking and drugs
- Meditate on a regular basis to manage stress
- Get sunlight and give time for your body, be active.
- Connect with positive surroundings and enjoy every bit of your life
- Set realistic goals and develop new skills and challenge your capabilities
- Express your feelings
Coping with Everyday Stress:
- Try and identify what exactly is the matter for stress:
If you are aware of what your matter of concern is, you can prepare your mind for that. Examples of matters for stress may include seeing a particular person, lack of sleep, money, work, deadlines, relationships, exams etc. Try calming your mind and, write down your thoughts on a paper and if you can, just try and change/ avoid/ remove the concern.
- Be aware of the signs of stress:
Everyone has different warning signs of mental health that indicate they may be starting to feel unhealthily stressed about matters. These may include, getting headaches, or feeling irritable, short-tempered tensing your jaw, and grinding your teeth.
- Try and make a routine that suits you:
Having routines in your day, such as meal taken on proper times, visiting a friend, regular exercise for the body, relaxing in your free time, waking in the morning and going to bed at consistent times, etc. Once this becomes your regular routine, it’s easier to accomplish everything as it becomes a good habit in your life.
- Looking after your mental and physical health and wellbeing on a regular basis:
Avoiding or reducing alcohol and other drug use, proper eating habits, exercising, getting good sleep, giving yourself some space and time, spending time with friends and visiting them, relaxing and doing activities you enjoy, and practicing mindfulness will definitely all help you to reduce stress.
- Try and find care and support: Getting positive support and care from the known people you trust and doctors can make a huge difference. Often it is very hard for people to talk and express their feelings about what is really going on in their mind, but starting a conversation with someone you trust and expressing your feelings and thoughts to them may help.
Types of Mental Health Issues:
- Mood Disorders (such as Depression or Bipolar Disorder)
Depression: Depression is the most common of all mental health conditions, and impacts many people’s lives, every day. While we all get sad, feel low, or lacking in energy at times, people with depression, experience these negative feelings more intensely and for longer periods of time. They can find it difficult to carry on with regular daily tasks of the day during periods of depression.
Bipolar Disorder: Bipolar disorder is a chronic (long-term) condition that involves intense mood changes which disrupt everyday life, from extreme highs to extreme lows. It often develops for the first time during teenage years or early adulthood. Bipolar disorder tends to affect more women than men. It is sometimes referred to as a manic depression. If you have bipolar disorder, what you experience during each mood (and for how long) can vary. A situation can last for weeks or even months. Your moods may not make sense in the context of what else is going on around your surroundings.
- Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety is the body’s physical response to a threat or perceived threat. It causes rapid breathing, butterflies in the stomach, a pounding heart, and a burst of energy as well as mental responses such as excessive fears, worries, or obsessive thinking. Mostly, everyone experiences anxiety issues from time to time with different situations. It helps us to avoid danger by giving us energy and alertness to escape. But for some people, anxious feelings don’t go away and they have no control over this feeling. They can see situations as much worse than they really are, and their anxiety affects their ability to concentrate, sleep and carry out ordinary tasks. These feelings can be caused by anxiety disorders.
- Personality Disorders
A personality disorder refers to a long-term pattern of thinking, behavior, and emotion that is dysfunctional, extreme, and inflexible. It causes stress and makes it difficult for your mind to function properly in everyday life for regular work too. People with personality disorders find it very difficult to change their behavior, thoughts, or feelings or adapt to different situations. They may have issues sustaining work and forming positive relationships with others. Some people with a personality disorder may appear withdrawn, some dramatic and emotional, and others odd or eccentric. The one thing they have in common is that their symptoms are severe enough to affect many different areas of life. People develop the early signs of a personality disorder in adolescence.
- Psychotic Disorders (such as Schizophrenia)
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that can cause someone to have a bad experience of reality. It causes psychosis when people experience delusions and hallucinations in their life. This affects people’s thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and behavior and affects their ability to function properly. People with psychotic disorders often experience stigma in the community, which can be one of their biggest problems. Most people find it very difficult to relate and understand and there are many myths about this condition. Only a very small number of people with schizophrenia become violent but they do have a higher rate of suicide than the general population. Schizophrenia affects about 1 in 100 people, and the symptoms usually begin in late adolescence or early adulthood. It is generally a long-term illness condition and can cause serious disability when left untreated properly.
- Eating Disorders
An eating disorder is a serious mental health issue that includes an unhealthy relationship with food and eating habits. It can have a significant physical and emotional effect on the individual’s feelings and thoughts. Eating disorders include binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED). Anyone can have an eating disorder but it is more common in adolescents and young adults. It’s important to seek help for eating disorders as early as possible from a doctor.
- Trauma-Related Disorders (such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that occurs in people who have experienced/ witnessed a traumatic situation such as an accident, terrorist act, war/combat, natural disaster, or rape, eventually who have been threatened with death, sexual violence or some serious injury. People with PTSD have intense disturbing thoughts and negative feelings related to their experienced situations that last very long-term after the traumatic situation has ended. They may re-live the experience through flashbacks/ nightmares. They may feel sadness and fear or anger. They may feel detached from other people. People with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the traumatic situation, and they may have strong negative reactions to something as ordinary as a loud noise or an accidental touch.
- Substance Abuse Disorders
Substance drug abuse refers to the intake of certain chemicals for the purpose of creating pleasurable effects on the brain which results in blocking. There are over 190 million drug users around the world and the problem has been increasing, especially amongst young adults under the age of 30. Apart from the long-term damage to the body drug abuse causes, drug addicts who are in habit of using needles are at risk of contracting HIV and Hepatitis B and C infections which are very harmful to the body.
Types Of Therapy
The type of therapy will completely depend on the situation you are dealing with. The main types are below:
Counseling is a therapy where you can talk about any of the problems, be it be past or present, that might be difficult for you to handle. The counselor is very well trained to listen to your issues, thoughts, and feelings patiently and to help you try to understand your thoughts and feelings, which are a problem to you. They can help you deal with the negative thoughts and feelings that are causing your mental health problem and encourage you to try different positive ways of coping with these thoughts.
CBT is a therapy that involves having a conversation about current life issues and how you react to them. You will be asked to name a situation that bothers you a lot and then list your thoughts and feelings in response to them for clarification. Your therapist will talk with you about how you judge and manage the things around you and your surroundings and help you to look at it and evaluate situations better which will change the way you respond to situations. By changing your negative thoughts, your mental health issues will definitely improve.
A doctor will check your health condition and may prescribe some medication to treat your mental health issues, and you may find that it can have huge benefits in getting your life back on track with a positive mind.
With any medication, you may experience side effects too. You should always feel free to ask the doctor prescribing your medication for details of possible side effects, negative or positive, so that you know what to expect, and can make an informed decision about whether the medication is right for you and you have to further continue it or not.
- Requesting Mental Health Support-A Call to Action
If the safety of the concerned person with mental health conditions or those around them is at immediate risk then seek help and advice on what to do by booking a doctor’s appointment.
Don’t feel worried about asking for help for yourself. Doctors are here to help you with your mental as well as your physical health for your own good.
Every day, the doctors deal with people who are feeling depressed, anxious, or who are facing mental health issues and not be able to cope with them.
The doctor can help you with issues that might be affecting your mental health badly, whether these are caused by any means such as work stress, relationship issues, living with a chronic illness, etc.
They may also prescribe you some medication or refer you for psychological therapy to help you to manage your mental health issues for your good.
