Mental health:

Mental health refers to a person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how one thinks, feels, and behaves and can also impact physical health. Positive mental health allows individuals to cope with the stressors of daily life, work productively, and make meaningful contributions to their communities. Negative mental health can lead to mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

Which Conditions Need Mental Health Awareness?

Mental health awareness is something that can help the millions of people who are impacted by mental health issues throughout the United States. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one in five adults have had or currently have symptoms of a mental illness. These statistics show just how prevalent living with a mental illness actually is.

This is also why NAMI recognizes Mental Health Awareness Month in May. The goal with a whole month of mental health awareness is to help people with mental illnesses understand that they are not alone in their struggles—and that getting treatment can make all the difference. If we applied this approach to mental health every day of the year, more and more people could benefit from knowing about these common illnesses.

Some common disorders that need more awareness include:

Generalized anxiety disorder
Substance use disorders
Depression
Bipolar disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Schizophrenia
Suicidal ideation

Though all of these mental health conditions have different symptoms, they can impact every aspect of your life. In truth, your mental health influences the way that you think, feel, and behave. This means that your social, professional, and personal life can be greatly impaired.

Many people who have mental health conditions aren’t sure how to cope with their symptoms and resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms to push away their emotional discomfort. As a result, you might also have an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Additionally, if you have one mental illness that goes untreated, you actually are at a greater risk for developing co-occurring disorders and you will need dual diagnosis treatment to fully heal.

Mental health awareness makes all of this information available to you so that you can assess your own risks and find help for any conditions you might have.

How Can Mental Health Awareness Help?

Mental health awareness doesn’t just help you. Knowing more about mental health disorders can also help your family members, friends, and coworkers. Three of the main reasons why mental health awareness is so important are outlined below:

1. Understand Your Symptoms

A lot of people who have mental health symptoms don’t actually realize that their struggles are a result of untreated disorders. Therefore, mental health awareness is helpful in getting you to understand your symptoms.

While all mental health conditions have different symptoms, some signs to look out for include:

Changes in sleeping patterns
Loss of appetite
Impulsive decision making
Turning to drugs or alcohol in moments of distress
Suicidal thoughts

If you haven’t been feeling like yourself lately, you might have a mental health issue that requires immediate treatment. After all, the symptoms of mental health disorders can be incredibly dangerous for both your emotional and physical health.

2. Break the Mental Health Stigma

Most importantly, mental health awareness can break the stigma of needing mental health care. Having mental health disorders doesn’t mean that you are “crazy.” In actuality, mental health impacts millions of people across the country. With more awareness and the right mental health care, you will realize that you are not alone. Having mental health support gets you one step closer to mental health recovery.

What changes can society make to prevent mental health problems?

It’s not just individual changes that will help us stay well. As a society, we need to tackle inequalities and look at the social, economic, environmental and other factors affecting mental health.

Our report on prevention and mental health looks at the societal changes that will make the biggest difference to everyone’s mental health, namely: