May is Mental Health Awareness Month
Mental Health is a topic that many people do not take the time to talk about.
Millions of people in the United States are affected by mental health challenges each year. However, due to the stigma behind mental health issues, the numbers of people suffering from mental health disorders go untreated and have risen over time.
According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), it’s not always easy to tell the difference between what expected behaviors are and what might be the signs of a mental illness. Each illness has its own symptoms, but common signs of mental illness in adults and adolescents can include the following:
- Excessive worrying or fear
- Feeling excessively sad or low
- Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
- Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria
- Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
- Avoiding friends and social activities
- Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
- Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired and low energy
- Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
Changes in sex drive- Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don’t exist in objective reality)
- Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior or personality (lack of insight, or “anosognosia”)
- Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs
- Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)
- Thinking about suicide
- Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress
- An intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance
A mental illness is a condition that affects a person’s thinking, feeling, behavior or mood. These conditions deeply impact day-to-day living and may also affect the ability to relate to others.
Read Nakiba’s Story >>
The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Mental Health
We as a society must understand how prevalent mental illness is and how it is further impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. In part, many have dubbed the growing needs of mental health services as the next pandemic.
If you have—or think a family member might have—a mental illness, the first thing you must know is that you are not alone. We must adapt to face the ongoing challenge of providing mental health care to all who need it and realize that it is time to stop stigmatizing mental health and treat it in the same light as physical well being.
Visit namiwnc.org for support, resources, and to learn more.
