Mental Health Awareness

Mental illness is a physical illness of the brain that causes disturbance in thinking, behavior, energy, or emotion that make it difficult to cope with the ordinary demands of life.

Mental illness affect 19% of the adult population, 46% of teenagers and 13% of children each year. People who struggle with mental health illness could be someone in your family, neighborhood, friend, teacher, or loved ones.

Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being. It is all about how people think, feel, and behave. People sometimes use the term "mental health" to mean the absence of a mental disorder.

Mental health can affect the daily living, relationship, and physical health of a person. However, it also works in the other direction, daily living, relationship, and physical health can all contribute to mental health disorders.

Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is your body's reaction to a challenge or demand. In short bursts, stress can be positive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline. 

Symptoms of Stress:   

Low energy

Headaches

Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea

Aches, pains, and tense muscles

Chest pain and rapid heartbeat

Insomnia

Frequent colds and infections

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

Most people who go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or even years, and interfere with your day-to-day functioning, you may have PTSD.

Symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder:

Intrusive memories - Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event, Reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again (flashbacks), Upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event, Severe emotional distress or physical reactions to something that reminds you of the traumatic event

Avoidance - Trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event and avoiding places, activities or people that remind you of the traumatic event

Negative changes in thinking and mood - Negative thoughts about yourself, other people or the world, Hopelessness about the future, Memory problems, including not remembering important aspects of the traumatic event, and Difficulty maintaining close relationships

Personality is the way of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes a person different from other people. An individual’s personality is influenced by experiences, environment (surroundings, life situations) and inherited characteristics. A person’s personality typically stays the same over time. A personality disorder is a way of thinking, feeling and behaving that deviates from the expectations of the culture, causes distress or problems functioning, and lasts over time.

Personality disorders are a group of mental illnesses. They involve long-term patterns of thoughts and behaviors that are unhealthy and inflexible. The behaviors cause serious problems with relationships and work. People with personality disorders have trouble dealing with everyday stresses and problems. They often have stormy relationships with other people.

Types of Personality Disorders

Antisocial personality disorder - A pattern of disregarding or violating the rights of others. A person with antisocial personality disorder may not conform to social norms, may repeatedly lie or deceive others, or may act impulsively.

Avoidant personality disorder - A pattern of extreme shyness, feelings of inadequacy and extreme sensitivity to criticism. People with avoidant personality disorder may be unwilling to get involved with people unless they are certain of being liked, be preoccupied with being criticized or rejected, or may view themselves as not being good enough or socially inept.

Borderline personality disorder - A pattern of instability in personal relationships, intense emotions, poor self-image and impulsivity. A person with borderline personality disorder may go to great lengths to avoid being abandoned, have repeated suicide attempts, display inappropriate intense anger or have ongoing feelings of emptiness.

Dependent personality disorder - A pattern of needing to be taken care of and submissive and clingy behavior. People with dependent personality disorder may have difficulty making daily decisions without reassurance from others or may feel uncomfortable or helpless when alone because of fear of inability to take care of themselves.

Histrionic personality disorder - A pattern of excessive emotion and attention seeking. People with histrionic personality disorder may be uncomfortable when they are not the center of attention, may use physical appearance to draw attention to themselves or have rapidly shifting or exaggerated emotions.

Narcissistic personality disorder - A pattern of need for admiration and lack of empathy for others. A person with narcissistic personality disorder may have a grandiose sense of self-importance, a sense of entitlement, take advantage of others or lack empathy.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder - A pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfection and control. A person with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder may be overly focused on details or schedules, may work excessively not allowing time for leisure or friends, or may be inflexible in their morality and values.

Paranoid personality disorder - A pattern of being suspicious of others and seeing them as mean or spiteful. People with paranoid personality disorder often assume people will harm or deceive them and don’t confide in others or become close to them.

Schizoid personality disorder- Being detached from social relationships and expressing little emotion. A person with schizoid personality disorder typically does not seek close relationships, chooses to be alone and seems to not care about praise or criticism from others.

Psychotic disorders are a group of serious illnesses that affect the mind. They make it hard for someone to think clearly, make good judgments, respond emotionally, communicate effectively, understand reality, and behave appropriately.

When symptoms are severe, people with psychotic disorders have trouble staying in touch with reality and often are unable to handle daily life. But even severe psychotic disorders usually can be treated.

Types of Psychotic Disorder:

Schizophrenia - People with this illness have changes in behavior and other symptoms -- such as delusions and hallucinations -- that last longer than 6 months. It usually affects them at work or school, as well as their relationships.

Schizoaffective disorder - People have symptoms of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder, such as depression or bipolar disorder.

Schizophreniform disorder - This includes symptoms of schizophrenia, but the symptoms last for a shorter time: between 1 and 6 months.

Brief psychotic disorder - People with this illness have a sudden, short period of psychotic behavior, often in response to a very stressful event, such as a death in the family. Recovery is often quick, usually less than a month.

Delusional disorder - The key symptom is having a delusion (a false, fixed belief) involving a real-life situation that could be true but isn't, such as being followed, being plotted against, or having a disease. The delusion lasts for at least 1 month.

Shared psychotic disorder - This illness happens when one person in a relationship has a delusion and the other person in the relationship adopts it, as well.

Substance-induced psychotic disorder - This condition is caused by the use of or withdrawal from drugs, such as hallucinogens and crack cocaine, that cause hallucinations, delusions, or confused speech.

Psychotic disorder due to another medical condition - Hallucinations, delusions, or other symptoms may happen because of another illness that affects brain function, such as a head injury or brain tumor.

Eating disorders are a range of psychological conditions that cause unhealthy eating habits to develop. They might start with an obsession with food, body weight, or body shape.

In severe cases, eating disorders can cause serious health consequences and may even result in death if left untreated.

Those with eating disorders can have a variety of symptoms. However, most include the severe restriction of food, food binges, or purging behaviors like vomiting or over-exercising.

Although eating disorders can affect people of any gender at any life stage, they’re most often reported in adolescents and young women. In fact, up to 13% of youth may experience at least one eating disorder by the age of 20.

What Causes Eating Disorder?

Genetics - Twin and adoption studies involving twins who were separated at birth and adopted by different families provide some evidence that eating disorders may be hereditary.

Personality traits - Neuroticism, perfectionism, and impulsivity are three personality traits often linked to a higher risk of developing an eating disorder.

Types of Eating Disorders:

Anorexia Nervosa - The most well-known eating disorder. It generally develops during adolescence or young adulthood and tends to affect more women than men. People with anorexia generally view themselves as overweight, even if they’re dangerously underweight. They tend to constantly monitor their weight, avoid eating certain types of foods, and severely restrict their calories.

Bulimia Nervosa - The other well-known eating disorder. Like anorexia, bulimia tends to develop during adolescence and early adulthood and appears to be less common among men than women. People with bulimia frequently eat unusually large amounts of food in a specific period of time.

Binge Eating Disorder - Believed to be the one of the most common eating disorders. It typically begins during adolescence and early adulthood, although it can develop later on. Individuals with this disorder have symptoms similar to those of bulimia or the binge eating subtype of anorexia. People with binge eating disorder do not restrict calories or use purging behaviors, such as vomiting or excessive exercise, to compensate for their binges.

Pica - The eating disorder that involves eating things that are not considered food. Individuals with pica crave non-food substances, such as ice, dirt, soil, chalk, soap, paper, hair, cloth, wool, pebbles, laundry detergent, or cornstarch. Pica can occur in adults, as well as children and adolescents. Individuals with pica may be at an increased risk of poisoning, infections, gut injuries, and nutritional deficiencies. Depending on the substances ingested, pica may be fatal.

Rumination Disorder - The newly recognized eating disorder. This rumination typically occurs within the first 30 minutes after a meal. Unlike medical conditions like reflux, it’s voluntary. This disorder can develop during infancy, childhood, or adulthood.

Depression, also known as major depressive disorder, is a mood disorder that makes you feel constant sadness or lack of interest in life.

Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home.

Symptoms of Depression:

Emotions - Sadness, anxiety, guilt, anger, mood swings, and irritability.

Thoughts - Self-criticism, impaired memory, indecisiveness, confusion, thoughts of death, and suicide.

Physical - Chronic fatigue, lack of energy, sleeping too much or too little, weight gain or loss, lost of motivation, and substance abuse.

Anxiety is a common feeling. It's your brain's way of responding to stress and warning you about impending threat.

We all experiences anxiety from time to time. Like for example, taking a test, job interviews, making a tough decisions. It is normal that we felt nervous and all kinds of feelings.

But Anxiety disorders are way more different from just a common Anxiety. Anxiety disorder makes you stop on doing the things that you loved because of anxiety and fear.

Anxiety Disorders has a lot of branches:

Panic Disorder - During a panic attack, your hands will start to shake, you will break out in sweat, you will start to experience chest pain, and you will have a racing heartbeat, which will cause you to become unable to breathe properly.

Generalized anxiety disorder - It is when you were doing just fine when suddenly you would feel scared and unrealistic worry about little things or for no reason.

Social Anxiety Disorder - Fear of being in a middle of a crowd and would quickly think of everyone would start judging you. And this is also known as social phobia, and it occurs when you experience excessive anxiety and self-consciousness in daily social situation.

Specific Phobia - It is when you fear about a specific object that could make you to start having a panic attack. For example fear of heights or a specific situation that could make you remember your traumatic experience.

Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme mood swings from mania to depression. The pattern of highs and lows varies for each person: For some people, episodes of mania or depression can last for weeks or months, while for others, mood swings are shorter and more frequent.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a mental illness that brings severe high and low moods and changes in sleep, energy, thinking, and behavior. The word "manic" describes the times when someone with bipolar disorder feels overly excited and confident. These feelings can also involve irritability and impulsive or reckless decision-making. About half of people during mania can also have delusions (believing things that aren't true and that they can't be talked out of) or hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren't there).

Bipolar Disorder Types:

Bipolar I disorder - With this type, you have extreme erratic behavior, with manic “up” periods that last at least a week or are so severe that you need medical care. There are also usually extreme “down” periods that last at least 2 weeks.

Bipolar II disorder - With this type, you also have erratic highs and lows, but it isn’t as extreme as bipolar I.

Cyclothymic disorder - This type involves periods of manic and depressive behavior that last at least 2 years in adults or 1 year in children and teens. The symptoms aren’t as intense as bipolar disorder I or bipolar disorder II.

Eat and drink to optimize your health 

Exercise Regularly 

Stop using Tobacco and nicotine products 

Study and practice relaxation stress 

Reduce triggers of stress 

Examine your values and live by them. 

Assert yourself 

Set realistic goals and expectations 

Practice relaxation techniques

Pursue outdoor activities

Confide in a person you trust

Spend time with positive people

Avoid alcohol and drugs

Learn about the condition. Knowledge and understanding can help empower and motivate.

Get active. Physical activity and exercise can help manage many symptoms, such as depression, stress and anxiety.

Avoid drugs and alcohol. Alcohol and illegal drugs can worsen symptoms or interact with medications.

Get routine medical care. Don’t neglect checkups or regular care from your family doctor.

Join a support group of others with personality disorders.

Write in a journal to express your emotions.

Try relaxation and stress management techniques such as yoga and meditation.

Try to get enough sleep. Sleep can help give you the energy to cope with difficult feelings and experiences

Think about your diet

Try to do some physical activity

Spend time outside

Keeping a food and mood diary - Writing things out can help identify and keep track of personal triggers and control binge eating impulses.

Practice mindfulness - Increase awareness of triggers and practice self-control and self-acceptance through holistic approaches such as meditation and yoga.

Support - Support is the key to any successful recovery. Finding someone to talk to online, at a support group, a friend, family member, or significant other can help you feel more connected and motivated to keep going.

Exercise - Moderate exercise approved by your doctor can help improve your body image, boost mood through the release of endorphins, reduce stress and anxiety, etc.