Mental health has many faces. You wake up and feel anxious, worried, not motivated, tired, or hopeless. You might want to work on your goals and get things done but you don’t know why you can’t do it. Dealing with mental health can cause different types of problems. It can change the way you feel about yourself, people, and life.
There is hope. Things can improve. Things can be different. You can become self-aware, understand mental health and use the information you learned to make things better.
Ask The Right Questions – Control Mental Health
How important is mental health? Managing mental health is very important – it can change every part of your life or the life of someone you care about. It can affect everything. Health, happiness, relationships, family, friends, how you think about yourself and others, career/school, social life, and more. Discover your reasons why it’s important to control mental health. This gives you the motivation to control it, especially during hard times.
These are some reasons to manage mental health. What matters to you the most?
- For yourself (so you can be there for others)
- To be happy
- For families and children
- For friends
- For pets
- To help others
- To reach your goals
- To enjoy life
- To have a good job or career
- Do hobbies
- Try new things
- Meet new people
- Enjoy nature
- Watch more TV, more music
- Who Is Affected By Mental Health?
About 1 out of every 4 people have a mental health condition. It affects over 450 million people around the world. There are many people who don’t know they have a mental health problem.
Mental health conditions have many faces. It can show up as physical, emotional, or psychological symptoms. Emotional symptoms can be sadness, worry, irritability, anger, anxiety, and discontent just to name a few. Physical symptoms can include fatigue, chest palpitations, dizziness, muscle aches and pains, and more.
There are 3 main ways to deal with mental health:
- Learn more about yourself and/or the person who has a mental health condition.
- Find necessary and useful information about mental health.
- Use the information to control mental health – now and in the future. If you don’t use what you learned, then it won’t help you.
1: Living With Mental Health:
When you know yourself or the person dealing with mental health problems, it’s easier to control the condition! Self-awareness is very important.
Private self-awareness: This is when you’re aware of who you are on a personal level. This is what you see in the mirror; how you feel or act on this level.
Public self-awareness: This is when you’re aware of how you look to other people. This could be at public events, crowds, concerts, and other places.
Learn how to spot symptoms: Sometimes, you might feel something is wrong but you don’t know what it is. It could be a mental health condition but it can show up in different ways. For instance, anxiety can sometimes show up as feeling nervous, worried, sweating or you can’t concentrate. It’s hard to know it’s anxiety because sometimes symptoms will change. Symptoms can change with each episode or over time. When you learn about your symptoms, write it down. Write down at least 3 things that help when you have a certain symptom. When you have these symptoms, look at your list and you will know what helps. When you know more about symptoms, then you can learn to control them.
2: Get information About Mental Health:
There is a lot of information about mental health but not all of it is accurate. When you’re looking for helpful information, make sure the person or organization providing it is a good source. Make sure you use credible sites like WebMD, Mayo Clinic, or government sites like the National Institute of Health (NIH). It’s important to make sure the information you’re getting is accurate and up-to-date.
3: Use Mental Health Information & Live Better:
Just knowing about mental health isn’t enough. In life, school, work, sports, relationships, and more, you need to use what you learned to get the results you want. For example, with depression symptoms, you or your loved one can feel sad or down. You can learn what to do in a book or online but you need to write down what you learned, review it, and use it. It’s hard to remember what you learned and what to do when you’re dealing with a mental health crisis.
Don’t suffer in silence if you think you have a mental health condition or have been diagnosed with one. You’re not alone. It’s okay to ask for help. It takes a strong person to ask for help.