A person’s mental health is as important as his physical health and should be given equal importance as physical health. If a person is mentally disturbed, then he might start living alone, stop communicating with his relatives, and might have suicidal thoughts.
Mental Health is the state of psychological and emotional well-being, and it strongly impacts your perception about life. How you think for others and the natural behavior you adopt is your mental health. The idiomatic expression you show over others’ words is the level of your mental health.
Mental health is also referred to as mental stability, hygiene, balance, and normality, or a healthy relationship with your friends. Good mental health is termed as the way you control your negative emotions, rage, anger, and violent actions which you can express freely.
Causes of Mental Illness:
Mental illness is a serious issue that can deteriorate a person’s physical activity. Financial problems, heredity characters, family activities, intense summer season, rude behavior of your boss in organization, sleeplessness, unemployment, poverty, and traumatic experiences are some primary causes of mental illness.
A person with issues regarding the communication between neurons in the brain can have mental sickness. Such a person naturally has a low serotonin neurotransmitter level and a mental sickness. It can also be caused when you do not take a proper diet and your internal desires are not fulfilled.
If you have a lot of work in an organization and you find significantly less time for taking rest, you will be internally depressed. When you work for some organization and meet its requirements but are not given enough honor, salary, gratitude, or benefits, you may have mental sickness.
Symptoms of Mental Illness:
When a person shows a harsh response to someone and loses his temperament, he is said to be mentally ill. Such a person is rarely found in a good mood and has fragile connections with others. He rarely attends parties and gatherings and loses all the occasions which may positively influence him.
A depressed individual wants to isolate himself, remains sad and confused, and feels shy in expressing his problems and feelings. He usually withdraws himself from social activities and does not participate in pleasant events. Such an individual’s eating and sleeping habits are disturbed, and he feels fear of a nightmare.
A person with mental sickness has increased sensitivity to tackle an emergency situation like some financial loss or uncertain tragedy. He has nervous feelings, unusual behavior, and least impulse control over bitter life experiences. He may have short-term memory and forgets things after a short interval of time.
Mental illness is severe and significantly affects people’s ability to cope with their issues. It lasts longer and may have drastic outcomes on patients’ health. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between a permanent mental illness and a temporary state of sadness.
Mental Illness in Children:
Some children have a genetically mental disability and they find themselves stressed. They may have psychological trauma, biological stress, inappropriate incarceration, low energy, and difficulty interacting with elders. Such kids usually disobey their elders and express a harsh response even if their parents treat them politely.
A virus called encephalitis is common in children, increasing the risk of mental sickness in their minds. It is an inflammation of the brain mainly caused by cold sores. It is also known as the herpes simplex virus that causes rubella, mumps, shingles, measles, and chickenpox.
Types of Mental Disorders:
Mental disorders include anxiety, psychotic, factitious, personality, mood, impulse control, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Depression, obsessive-compulsive, bipolar, schizophrenia, phobias, and panic disorders are also types of mental sickness.
Biological and mental disorders include paranoid, residual, undifferentiated, hebephrenic, catatonic, and disorganized illnesses. There is a type of mental sickness called Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a neurodevelopment disorder in children. This disease includes trouble multitasking, low frustration tolerance, excessive activity, poor planning, restlessness, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and impulsiveness.
Myths about Mental Disorders:
- Bipolar disorder is a mood swing.
- Anxiety is getting stressed out.
- Being depressed is the same as an ordinary sadness.
- Depression is not an illness.
- Talking about depression makes it worse.
- Depression is tied to one event.
- Only women get depressed.
- Only antidepressant medicines and mood stabilizers are enough to control depression.
- Bad parenting is not a cause of depression.
- Being gay, transgender, infertile, or having a physical disability are mental illnesses.
- All people exposed to trauma will certainly have PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder).
- Everyone who experiences a loss is devastated.
- Only Myers-Briggs tests (a questionnaire to determine how patients think about the world) are reliable.
- Therapy is a key to dredging up the past.
- Therapy is like having a paid friend.
- Therapy is only for weak individuals.
Determinants of Mental Health:
Some are the factors that strongly affect the mental illness of people. They include gender, age, ethnicity, income level, sexual orientation, geographic location, and freedom from violence and discrimination. The individuals’ natural behavior, characteristics, social status, working conditions, personal health practices, and coping skills are also the determinants of mental health.
Diagnosis:
There is a proper diagnosis of people with a mental health condition in which patients are asked about their feelings. Many patients have hallucination problems in which they see and hear things that actually do not exist. Some patients have suicidal thoughts and they think like they are jumping from a massive wall or tower.
Such patients should be provided psychological counseling, also called talk therapy. The doctor should explore the problems that cause suicidal thoughts and suggest proper medications. Anti-anxiety, antipsychotic, and antidepressant medications can reduce suicidal thoughts.
Physical Evaluation:
In physical evaluation, a doctor should judge if the suicidal thoughts are linked to patients’ underlying physical or mental health. The patient should tell his doctor
- What are other mental issues they are facing?
- Is there an alternative to the medicines the doctor is prescribing them?
- Will they need some tests for underlying conditions?
- What can be some alternatives to the doctor’s approach to remedies?
- Is there another way to stay safe and feel relaxed?
- What websites or brochures do doctors recommend to overcome mental sickness in leisure time?
Psychological Exams:
A psychiatrist should examine his patients by asking some common questions when his patients are not in a position to express themselves freely. The patients should answer their questions openly to find a solution and these questions may be:
- Do you even have a plan to kill yourself?
- Have you tried to take your life at risk?
- Have you made some preparations like writing suicidal notes or collecting pills?
- When did you first have suicidal thoughts?
- Do you drink alcohol, and if yes, from when and how often?
- Do you use recreational drugs?
- What are your feelings and goals about the future?
How can Mental Health be Improved?
Following are the techniques that can improve your mental illness. It would help if you adopted them without a gap and negligence. These tips can lead mentally ill individuals to a purposeful and meaningful life.
Value Yourself
Individuals with mental illness should value themselves and not look down upon themselves. They should not devalue themselves and overthink that their mental sickness can lead them to more severe patients. People with mental health should not underestimate their skills and internal talent.
Take Exercise
Many exercises and activities can reduce your stress and anxiety. These exercises include yoga, running, boxing, long drive, and spending time with near and dear ones. The patients should engage in gardening, swimming, singing, cooking, cross-country skiing, and hiking. These activities must be adopted five days a week to clear your mind from frustration.
Interaction with Positive People
The mentally ill individuals should interact with positive people and stay away from pessimists. The mentally sick persons should remain with close friends who would definitely teach them the real purpose of life. Sitting in the group of youth who perform random parties and refreshing activities is suggested.
Stay Active
People with a mental health conditions should stay active and constantly indulge in positive activities. They should not spend the whole day sleeping or sitting at a place and doing nothing. It is said that an empty mind is a devil’s workshop; therefore, they should participate in indoor and outdoor affairs.
Talk to someone
If a mentally ill individual feels wrong or considers himself mentally weak, he should communicate with others. If he cannot perform a specific task or cannot do normal activities, he should ask others for help. The healthy people will advise him and find solutions to his problems.
Make leisure
Mental sick patients should find time to take rest and should not bother themselves with continuous hard activities. They should relax and take a short break to function their minds properly. If they are customary in working on computer screens, they must remove their eye contact with screens.
Sleep Duration
The mentally ill should make a proper sleep schedule preferable according to their doctor’s recommendations. If they face insomnia (inability to sleep at night), they may take pills, but the doctor’s suggestions are strongly advised.
Deal with Stress
People with mental health conditions should deal with stress to keep busy in their minds. They may solve mathematical problems and play puzzles or mind games to activate their brain neurons. They should not puzzle in life’s challenges and try to tackle them confidently.
Healthy Diet
It is recommended to take a healthy diet whether a person is healthy or mentally sick. A healthy and fresh diet impacts a good impression on a person’s mind and there is less probability of falling into diseases. Physical and mental diseases attack an individual who takes a healthy diet on time.
Doctor Consultation
An individual must seek guidance and consultation from his nearby doctor or psychiatrist. He should openly share his negative feelings with a certified doctor and follow his recommendations. Regular advice from a doctor may teach the patient to cope with challenges and he may find it comfortable to get on the road to recovery.
Set Realistic Goals
A mentally ill individual should live a purposeful life by setting a target and goals for his life. He must make a schedule and plan to survive in the future life because he gets the right direction to follow. His psychiatrist may set these goals, which may enhance the patients’ confidence and motivation.
Break mental health stigma
If a patient is mentally ill, he should not consider himself permanent crazy and believe in treating his mental sickness. Such patients are mostly considered a mark of shame but should overcome their weakness, emotional distress, and bipolar disorder.
Give up Drugs and Alcohol
Although a drug addict patient cannot leave his drug-taking habit suddenly, he should continuously lower the number of drug pills and ask for a doctor’s help for rehabilitation. People with a mental health conditions can take alternatives to harmful drugs with their doctor’s recommendations.
Relaxation Techniques
Relaxation techniques are the practices you perform to stimulate your body’s natural relaxation response. It moderates your blood pressure and lessens stress and muscle tension.
Following are some relaxation techniques:
- In progressive relaxation, a person with mental health should relax his muscle groups using mental imagery.
- In the Biofeedback process, the patient should try to manage his body functions like heart rate, breathing, and muscle tension.
- In guided imagery, you should focus on a positive picture of events in your mind. Try to overcome negative feelings and try to become optimistic.
- In a self-hypnosis state, a person with a mental health condition should represent himself in a trance of a state on hearing a sudden tragedy or mishap. He is advised to control his temperament and his blood pressure and heartbeat will remain normal.
Accept who you are
Usually, gays and transgender live a sad life due to their permanent disability. Similarly, a married individual may become mentally sick when he/she is not capable to produce offspring. Such individuals should be encouraged to live a normal life and not bother them for their disability. A person with a mental health condition should accept the reality of life and accept what he is.
Author’s Bio:
Samuel Dawson loves helping others to thrive online through Social Media, Blogging, and SEO. What good is knowledge if you cannot share it with others? He has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 10 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
He spent his last decade reading and writing blogs and his words show new colors of life to readers. He was invited as a guest to a renowned College to distribute awards for creative writing. Also, he is a professional architect and loves observing the kids’ behavior towards their elders.