Everyone reacts differently to stress, illness, injury, or uncomfortable situations, but how a person deals with adversity can be a tell-tale clue as to their overall mental health or wellbeing. Healthcare professionals have studied mental disorders for decades and have educated opinions about causality and relief, believing that certain conditions can be treated with regular therapy, support groups, and drugs including ketamine. Ketamine originally had a different medicinal use but is now believed to manage and relieve symptoms of mental health disorders as it overpowers chemical receptors in the brain.
Mental wellbeing can paint an accurate or distorted portrait of a person, but do you know some of the signs that may indicate poor mental health? Changes in eating or sleep patterns, low energy, a sense of despair, substance misuse, severe mood swings including anger, hallucinations or delusions, feelings of self-harm or harming others, may all be signs to watch for.
The Big Picture
According to the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins Medicine, statistics about mental health are eye-opening:
- Mental health disorders like bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety are a main cause globally for disability across all gender and age groups.
- About 26 percent of Americans age 18 or older suffer from a diagnosed mental disorder each year.
- It’s not unusual for a person to suffer from multiple disorders at the same time.
- Females are twice as likely as males to suffer from depression.
- Depression most often develops in the mid-20s.
- Four times as many men as women commit suicide, though more women than men make the attempt.
- Mental disorders have been observed in children as young as six.
- About 18 percent of people ages 18 to 54 experience an anxiety disorder each year.
Signs of Positive Mental Health
Positive mental health contributes to a person’s overall well-being, allowing him to navigate the churning waves of adversity that can overwhelm someone’s attitude, behavior, and ability to cope with everyday life. The problem with being an “armchair” mental health professional is we’re quick to diagnose and slow to offer real help.
You can identify someone with positive mental health who can learn, maintain personal relationships, cope with adversity, is confident and feels optimistic, accepts blame for one’s actions, sets goals and works to achieve them, feels good about herself and others, and who seeks to improve one’s self and others.
How to Stay Positive
Any mental health disorder, regardless of how “minor” it may seem, is tough to handle. Getting help from a mental health professional or a support network of loved ones is critical, but equally important is trying to stay positive. There are many benefits of staying positive, according to Mental Health America: People who are positive live longer; people who keep track of what they’re grateful for were more upbeat with “fewer physical complaints;” and people “who obsessively repeated negative thoughts and behaviors were able to change their unhealthy patterns—and their brain activity actually changed too.”
Here are some tips on how to stay positive:
- Foster optimism and focus on the positives in life.
- Practice gratitude by recognizing and appreciating the things in life you’re grateful for every day.
- Banish negative thinking.
- Remove your mind from negative space when you can by listening to your favorite, upbeat music or a motivational podcast.
When to Get Help
Knowing when to get help is an as important part of the journey as actually getting help. If you’re not aware you need help, perhaps someone else will. Either way, there are key warning signs: Extreme worries, sad or low feelings, prolonged moments of inability or anger, and many others.
Treatment Options
The first step in treatment is a clinical diagnosis. A doctor may recommend different kinds of in-patient or out-patient therapy, the use of ketamine, social support, educating yourself, or participating in a clinical trial for other treatment options. Don’t be afraid to talk about the problem with a loved one.
In Closing
Recognizing mental health, either fostering positives or seeking help, is important to your overall health. Globally, mental disorders are one of the biggest sources of disability, resulting in a trillion dollars in lost productivity. Finding help is important, and many sources are available to assist your search for mental well-being.
If you or a loved one is dealing with a mental health disorder we would like to invite you to contact us today to learn more about the treatment options we can provide.
