Mental Health for all, How big or small!

Mental health refers to the social, emotional, and psychological well-being of an individual. This has a direct effect on how one thinks, feels, or acts. The quality of mental health also determines how an individual handles stress, relates to others, or makes choices.

Rashika has been wondering about what mental health means for some time now. She is confused if mental health is for everyone or not. And even if it is, then how can one maintain his or her mental health?

How can Rashika take care of her mental health at every stage of life, from childhood to adolescence and adulthood?

Factors Contributing to Mental Health Problems

Before Rashika can learn how to take care of her mental health, she needs to understand the factors contributing to mental health problems. These factors are:

• Biological factors, including brain chemistry and genes
• Life experiences, including abuse and trauma
• Family history of mental health issues

If you are also facing some problems with maintaining your mental health like Rashika, then you need to know that it’s okay. Experiencing mental health problems from time to time is completely fine as long as you know what you are dealing with. This means that you should be familiar with some early warning signs.

The Early Warning Signs

Rashika knows that she is having trouble maintaining her mental health. She has been able to identify the problem by tracking down some early warning signs, including:

• Sleeping too much
• Sleeping too little
• Severe fluctuations in eating or appetite
• Having no or low energy
• Pulling away from friends and loved ones
• No interest in activities that one enjoyed earlier
• Feeling numb
• Having no interest in anything
• Experiencing unexplained pains or aches
• Feeling hopeless
• Feeling helpless
• Feeling confused, forgetful, on edge, upset, angry, scared, or worried most of the time
• Yelling or fighting with loved ones constantly
• Using drugs, drinking, or smoking more than usual
• Experiencing severe mood swings
• Having persistent thoughts that impact daily activities
• Hearing voices
• Thinking of harming oneself or others
• Strongly believing things that are not true
• Inability to perform daily tasks

Benefits of Positive Mental Health

If Rashika practices techniques to improve the quality of her mental health, then some benefits she can get are:

• Realize her full potential
• Cope with stresses in life without a lot of problems
• Increased work productivity
• Meaningful contributions to the community
• Have a healthier and happier life

How to Maintain Positive Mental Health?

The different ways in which Rashika can maintain her mental health are given below.

• Get professional help if you need it
• Connect with other individuals
• Try to stay positive and focus on the good things in your life
• Try to be more physically active
• Help others
• Get enough sleep
• Develop coping skills

Beyond following all of these tips, the biggest thing that you or Rashika can do is to recognize when you need help. It is better to get help than suffer in misery alone. Rashika agrees with all of this and is working to better her mental health.

Myths and Facts

From time to time, Rashika comes across statements related to mental health on the internet that just seems so far-fetched. She is worried whether those are actually myths or facts. Let’s debunk so

Rashika has set goals for herself. She is trying to be more happy and positive in life. She has adopted a lot of techniques that help her deal with stress. She sets small goals for herself that are easy to achieve.

me of those myths today!

• Myth 1: Mental Health Problems Don’t Affect Me

According to several studies, suffering from mental health problems is very common. In recent years, some studies even show that more than half of the world population will suffer from one mental health issue or the other during their lifetime!

Psychological issues like depression, stress, and anxiety are extremely common in people. This is why it was extremely brilliant of Rashika to learn about her mental health at the right time!

• Myth 2: Children Don’t Have Mental Health Problems

From a young age, Rashika has been a very anxious child. But sadly, her parents were never able to identify her problems while she was growing up. This is why Rashika is a big proponent of educating children and parents about mental health issues.

People of all ages and backgrounds can suffer from mental health problems. One does not need to have an extremely packed and troubled life to experience mental health issues. Anybody and everybody is susceptible to psychological problems.

• Myth 3: People with Mental Health Problems are Unpredictable and Violent

A large majority of individuals who suffer from mental health problems are no more violent than you or me. According to statistics, only 3% – 5% of violent acts are performed by individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses.

In fact, individuals suffering from psychological issues are 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than the general population! If you know someone who is going through psychological problems, then get that person some help.

• Myth 4: Your Personality Weakness or Character Flaws Cause Mental Health Problems

Mental health problems have nothing to do with being lazy, having a character flaw, or a weak personality. Instead, mental health issues are contributed by factors like life experiences, biological factors, and the medical history of the family.

• Myth 5: Therapy is a Waste of My Time

Rashika was talking to one of her friends about how she might benefit from therapy. But she was shocked to hear her friend reply that therapy is a waste of time so she won’t bother with it.

This is a very wrong ideology. Treatment for mental health problems will require therapy, taking medications, or even both. The individual must have a support system to rely on and fall back on to heal properly. This is similar to saying that treating wounds on your body is a waste of time.

• Myth 6: Prevention Doesn’t Work When It Comes to Mental Health Problems

Prevention actually works wonders when it comes to dealing with problems related to your mental, emotional, and behavioral health. To see proof of that all you need to do is assess Rashika’s situation.

She knew about mental health and how to identify that she was facing difficulty. This was the only reason why things didn’t spiral out of control for her. She armed herself with knowledge and followed it to live a healthier and happier life.

Focusing on Your Mental Health

Rashika is now happy with where she is. She no longer experiences severe anxiety. She is more productive at work and in her personal life. She is constantly trying to change the perspective of people that mental health is not for all. Has she been able to help you recognize that mental health is for all?