Nowadays, mental health has become a very important matter in our lives.
And this is no wonder, mental health impacts our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
Having good mental health will help us to cope with daily basis situations at every stage of our lives.
That’s the reason why mental health problems are being taken more seriously in the past decades.
But, noticing that we are going through a mental illness can be hard to tell by ourselves or our beloved ones.
Today, we will discuss the main groups of mental disorders and the importance of being aware of them.
Remember that seeking professional help will positively impact your life and those around you.
Main types of mental illness:
- Mood disorders
These type of disorders affects the emotional state of a person and will have repercussions on their daily routine.
When having mood disorders, the person can go from a state of extreme happiness to a sense of extreme sadness.
Normally, everyone’s mood varies during the day depending on the situations people must deal with.
But a mood disorder will affect the behaviour for several weeks or more time.
The most common mood disorders are depression and bipolarity. The first one commonly appears after a traumatic life event or crisis.
It’s characterized by intense sadness, loss of interest, tiredness, and it can even cause disability. For its part, a swing of mood from periods of depression to mania is what characterizes bipolarity.
Both disorders can be treated by health professionals. More details of the treatments are explained by Healthcanal’s medical team in their newly published article.
- Anxiety disorders
Anxiety is a natural response of our bodies that helps us to avoid dangerous situations by providing energy and alertness.
You can experience rapid breathing, a pounding heart, and a rush of energy. But in some cases, the anxious feeling joined to obsessive thinking doesn’t go away.
That can cause sleeping problems, will affect concentration, and doing daily tasks can get difficult to accomplish.
Having an anxiety disorder can lead to social phobia, panic attacks, excessive worry about the future, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorders.
- Eating disorders
As with the other disorders that we have described earlier, an eating disorder will negatively impact the life of the person that suffers from it and their beloved ones.
This disorder is characterized by an unhealthy relationship with food. It includes binge eating, vomiting after eating and being deprived of food.
This type of disorder can affect anyone, but adolescents and young adults are more prone to this disorder.
Eating disorders are commonly caused by the beauty standards (impossible to achieve for most people) imposed by the mass media.
People that have eating disorders will show an excessive concern for their appearance. They can show anxiety when there are around food, and they can perceive their body differently than it actually is.
Also, they can do excessive exercise, and if they’re not able to do it they might become distressed.
- Substance abuse disorders
Developing and addiction can happen at any time and to everyone.
People who do substance abuse will have a physical or psychological need to use a certain substance and won’t be able to quit. They can put in jeopardy their jobs, school, close relationships, and their life.
People who have an addiction will show anxiety if they’re not able to drug regularly.
In most cases, a substance abuser will rely on the drug to cope with their emotions and social situations. They’ll use the substance to relax and can develop financial problems to get more drugs.
They will put themselves in risky situations that will put their lives in danger.
Losing weight and being anxious, angry, or depressed will be part of the signs of substance abuse.
Along with treatment, there are tips for managing addiction that can be helpful for anyone that is going through this situation.
- Psychotic disorders
Schizophrenia is the most common psychotic disorder that will cause delusions and hallucinations.
People who suffer from this disorder will lose touch with reality, and their thoughts, perceptions, and behaviour will be affected.
People with this mental illness will hear, see, and feel something that is not there.
One of the main problems of this illness is that a lot of people find it hard to understand.
That causes the segregation of the person that suffers from the psychotic disorders, leaving him/her in a more vulnerable scenario.
Why Mental Health Awareness Is Vital?
Awareness about mental health is crucial to create improvement in the quality of life for mentally ill people.
Opening the conversation about the different types of mental health disorders, and how to acknowledge them is key to obtain treatment.
Commonly, people often catalogued depressed or bipolar people as crazy or lazy.
The truth is that their situation is more complex than that, and handing them the right tools to cope with their illness is important.
Mental disorders are caused by many reasons; they can develop because of hard life experiences, genes, chemical imbalances in the brain, the use of drugs, isolation, etc.
Having these disorders are never the fault of the person who suffers them; these illnesses are multifactorial.
But if we raise awareness of mental health more people can understand their symptoms and break the stigma that goes around mental health care.
How to keep good mental health?
These are some tips that will help you to enhance your mental health by creating healthy habits.
They can be your ally when you’re going through a rough time in your life.
However, do not hesitate on getting professional help if you’re not feeling yourself lately. Try to:
- Keep yourself active: Exercise will improve your mood, thanks to dopamine!
- Rest: Sleeping between 7 to 8 hours will enhance your physical and intellectual performance.
- Eat healthily: Avoid eating ultra-processed foods, and eat more whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and protein.
- Go out with your friends: Isolation is one of the main causes of anxiety and depression.
- Find a hobby: Doing activities for fun will help you to improve your mood.
- Manage your thoughts: Whenever you’re overthinking or being too negative, try to focus on something else.
- Relax: Do you know how to manage stress? Find time to chill and relax. Go for a walk, listen to some music, or take a bath.
- Seek help: Mental health professionals can give you’re the right tools to cope and manage situations that can be negative for you. Do not hesitate, seeking help is fine and is good for you.
Author Bio:
Hi, I am Olivia Robinson, a writer, and blogger by profession.
As I’m a wanderer, I share my experiences through my write-ups in a way that it’s understandable and appealing to the people.
I aim to achieve a difference through my writing, which allows my readers to make informed and valuable choices.