Many people have heard the catch phrase “all diseases are caused by stress.” However, as it is a simple and natural step to seek mental help and in case of a bodily ailment, stress, anxiety.
It is known that when people receive appropriate care for their mental health problems, they do not seek health care in general as often. According to the statistics provided by mental hospitals in NJ, people with unresolved mental health problems visit general practitioners twice as often as those who receive specialized mental health and psychological care.
Excessive anxiety and stress can cause certain heart diseases and weaken the strength of the immune system. Psychological problems also increase the likelihood of wrong behavioral choices, which manifests itself in addiction to smoking and drugs, alcohol abuse. According to the National Mental Health Association, there is a close relationship between the psyche and the physical condition of a person. Feelings of anxiety, constant stress and anxiety can lead to poor health. People who care about mental health tend to achieve great success, both professionally and personally. Mental health is important in terms of communication, especially in the family. It allows you to maintain a healthy atmosphere in the circle of loved ones, to raise children correctly, giving them the necessary care and a psychological model for imitation. Mentally healthy people are more resistant to the influence of negative social factors, less prone to the formation of “bad habits.” Thus, when a person is free from depression, anxiety, excessive stress and anxiety, he or she is able to live fully and enjoy life.
Only a specialist can fully assess the state of mental health and prescribe mental therapy. However, for the current assessment of one’s own state or the state of the psyche of relatives and friends and making a decision on seeking mental help, it is enough to pay attention to a number of simple criteria:
- Sleep quality. Difficulty falling asleep, restless sleep, unusually early awakenings, and, conversely, increased drowsiness, lack of a feeling of rest upon awakening – all these are sleep disturbances that may indicate a dysfunction of the nervous system lead to its overstrain, which means, increase the risk of mental disorders.
- Mental performance. Mental performance is characterized by the activity of mental processes: attention, memory, thinking. Decreased mental performance, manifested in the form of insufficient memory functioning, problems with concentration, difficulty making decisions, can be a sign of many mental disorders and diseases.
- Emotional state. The emotional sphere is extremely sensitive to various manifestations of unhappiness. The predominance of negative emotional reactions (bad mood, tearfulness, irritability, anger), their unusual and high intensity, especially in situations of inconsistency with the situation in which they are manifested, difficulties in managing one’s own emotional state – all these are reasons to pay attention to the state of mental health.
- Changes in behavior. For any person, there are habitual ways of reacting in different life situations, due to character traits and life experience. A sharp departure from habitual forms of behavior, an unexpected change in stable views, the absence of an obvious connection between such changes and life events can be manifestations of emotional and mental distress.