Mental Health
What is mental health?
Mental health refers to your emotional and psychological well-being. Having good mental health helps you lead a relatively happy and healthy life. It helps you demonstrate resilience and the ability to cope in the face of life’s adversities. Your mental health can be influenced by a variety of factors, including life events or even your genetics. A mental illness is a broad term which encompasses a wide variety of conditions which affect the way you feel and think. It can also affect your ability to get through day-to-day life.
Mental illnesses can be influenced by several different factors, including: genetics, environment, daily habits and biology. Mental illness does not imply that there is a spiritual problem or a problem which can be induced remotely. Such disorders are not acquired through food or amulets.
Are all mental illnesses the same?
The following are some common mental disorders.
- Schizophrenia or what we incorrectly refer to as ‘madness’ impairs a person’s perception of reality and the world around them. It interferes with their connection to other people. It’s a serious condition that needs treatment. They might see things that aren’t there or hear voices. It is a very dangerous condition if left untreated.
- Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental illness characterized by episodes of energetic, manic highs and extreme, sometimes depressive lows. These can affect a person’s energy level and ability to think reasonably. Mood swings caused by bipolar disorder are much more severe than the small ups and downs most people experience on a daily basis.
- Major depressive disorder (MDD) causes feelings of extreme sadness or hopelessness that lasts for at least two weeks and interferes with daily activity. This condition is also called also called clinical depression and associated with ideas of suicide.
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) causes constant and repetitive thoughts, or obsessions. These thoughts happen with unnecessary and unreasonable desires to carry out certain behaviors, or compulsions. Some common desires include cleanliness, security or object positioning.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that’s triggered after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event.
How does one cope with Mental Illness?
The symptoms of many mental illnesses may get worse if they’re left untreated. Reach out for psychological help if you or someone you know may have a mental illness. Mental illnesses can be triggered or worsened by stimulants like excessive alcohol, marijuana ‘wee’ and cocaine. Mental health treatment is different for each patient, after a psychologist or psychiatrist makes a diagnosis. Treatment may be with psychotherapy, medications, lifestyle treatments or intense hospital management.
