You don’t have to walk naked on the streets to be mentally unfit. As long as you can’t think straight and have trouble controlling your emotions, you are mentally ill.
In the US alone, over millions of America suffers from mental illness. There are several initiatives to create awareness about this illness. Here are a few of them
- Mental health awareness month
- Community sensitization on mental illness
- Mental screening camps
- Social media sensitization
- Curriculum inclusion on mental health
What you need to know about mental health
Fact 1: 90 percent of suicide cases are due to mental illness.
In the US, almost 40,000 cases of teen deaths are as a result of suicide.
The teens are the most affected group. Suicidal thoughts come from psychiatric diseases. They start from withdrawal symptoms where people tend to stay away from people and prefer to be with their own company, which hasn’t been the trend.
By the time they do it, there were many red flags that you can use to prevent the advanced stage of depression and further suicide.
Fact 2: Mental disorder has similar characteristics
Depression is a telltale sign of poor mental health. Other characteristics include anxiety, eating disorder, personality, and psychotic, each of which comes with a specific mental disease.
The moment one becomes incoherent and deviates from the norm, they have a high chance of having a mental disorder.
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Fact 3: Untreated mental health disorder turns out to be a major disaster
Mental illness should be taken seriously as any other severe disease.
It doesn’t matter the course; as long as there is nothing done about it, it can lead to serious physical health challenges, which include
- Chronic pain
- Uncontrolled emotions
- Inability to handle life challenges
- Incarceration
- Suicide
Where possible, it’s essential to seek medical attention anytime you have mild symptoms to prevent them from reaching uncontrolled heights.
Fact3: Not all mental illness ailments require conventional medicine.
Depending on the severity and cause of a mental challenge, there are many ways of treating a mental disorder.
When it’s a way of projection, it’s essential to look for the course; if in unavoidable, then coping mechanisms come in handy.
Social challenges leading to cognitive deficiencies require behavioral therapy to handle them.
Here are other ways you can deal with a mental disease.
- Meditation
- Therapy
- Yoga
Fact 4: The first line of therapy in mental illness treatment is to find the cause
Once you have a mentally ill patient, strive to find the cause of the problem. You need this information to get the best and workable treatment plan; you may worsen the situation without that.
Getting a mentally ill patient to open up on what is the problem requires wisdom and tact. Here are a few ways to do it to your advantage
- Use a close friend whom he can confide in
- Get a neutral counselor
- Start a friendship with a similar hobby
The best line of treatment depends on the cause of the mental illness. Only go for conventional medicine when all other plans have failed.
Fact 5: Prevention is better than cure
Always be your brother’s keeper when it comes to matters of mental health. It’s a medical condition that takes time to treat and heal.
Sixty percent of the cases relapse, and the whole plan goes back to square one. Psychologically, the people around the patient also get emotionally, psychologically, and socially disoriented.
Better prevent the advanced stages of the illnesses since most of them turn fatal rather than go through the expensive process of getting a cure.
Fact 6: Substance abuse plays a significant role in the onset and advancement of mental illness
Drugs work directly on the nervous system, which is majorly controlled by the brain. The fact that it’s used in excess means you reach a level where you can’t handle it anymore.
At that point, the brain works beyond optimum levels, and that explains the uncontrolled behavior, incoherence, and finally, it affects physical health.
The drug components get addicted to the body where the body can’t function without them-the leading cause of withdrawal symptoms in people trying to be rehabilitated from drug abuse.
This disturbance leads to despair and hopelessness- the onset of mental disability.
Fact 7: The youth population are the significant percentage of mental health patients
Statistics show that in every ten young people, at least one has a mental illness. Scientists attribute this to poor parenting and identity crisis.
Since they lack someone to hold their hand in dealing with adolescence and social issues affecting them, they get depressed and finally get to a poor mental health state.
Fact 8: LGBTQ is the most affected group compared to straight individuals.
The stigma that comes with a different sexual orientation is the primary cause of mental illness.
Some have no problem with it, but society is judgemental of them.
It reaches a point some of them can’t accommodate the high level of stigma, mostly when it’s associated with religious backing.
Fact 9: Mentally ill patients live productive lives.
Most people who have mental illness are ordinary and do their chores and run their lives usually.
You need wisdom and understanding of the discipline to pinpoint a mentally ill patient for help.
Anyone can have a mental illness, although there are well know pre-disposing factors. Still, you must understand yourself and know when you need help instead of playing games with your mind.
Get the cause of your mental challenge and seek appropriate medical treatment, and where possible, if it’s the environment that is the cause, then a change should be the first thing you need to work on; otherwise, the whole exercise will be in vain.