Maybe It’s More than Sadness and Nerves; Mental Health

Sias 04/09/19

139

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[ 🖊 ] created ⋮ 05.04.19

[ :alarm_clock: ] published ⋮ 09.04.19

[ 🧠] type of blog ⋮ [Mental Health]

˚₊·͟͟͟͟͟͟͞͞͞͞͞͞➳❥ ꒰ ⌨ ✰ [Sias] ⁱˢ ᵗʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ··· ꒱ | ೃ࿔₊•

┊ ⋆ welcome to my blog !

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It’s your Student Nurse Sias!

With your weekly health blog!

This time it’s about

Mental Health

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Table of Contents

1) Warnings/Disclaimer

2) What is Mental Health?

3) Break the Stigma/Myths and Facts

4) Why taking care of yourself mentally

is just as important

4) Empathy vs Sympathy

5) Useful Sources

6) Resources

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Disclaimer: This is just

some general information to

educate you a little on Mental

Health, this may not be

suitable for all. Anything said,

cannot determine whether or not

you may are suffering

from mental illness,

it’s best to consult with your doctor,

who can help you further by

consulting someone who is more

of an expert. Thank you!

Images are not Mine :)

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Maybe It’s More than Sadness and Nerves; Mental Health-[C] 🛎.˚ !
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"It is only in sorrow bad weather masters us; in joy we face the storm and defy it"

- Ameila Barr

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What is Mental Health?

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Mental Health as defined by the World Health Organisation is a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.

Mental health can include emotional, psychological, and social well-being and is determined by many factors like biological factors, such as your genetic makeup; your experiences in life, such as a joyful celebration of a wedding or experiencing trauma or abuse; your family history on mental health.

Green Ribbon for Mental Health Awareness

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Myths, Facts and the Stigma

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Many people have a stigma with regards to mental health and mental illness. Stigma is a type of coping mechanism in which a person(s) would consider potential people as dangers. This is due to a distinctive mark or characteristic of those people. However, often times they are marked forcefully. Stigma stems from prejudice, mostly due to most people having a lack of knowledge or being misinformed in mental health and mental illness and often is linked to negative aspects of life like criminality, prostitution etc. With that in mind, most people would believe that people who are mentally ill are the ones who are locked in asylums, murderers and whatever negative connotation. Realistically, everyone can suffer from mental illness and the illnesses are vast. This can include things like anxiety, depression, eating disorders etc. All this misunderstanding and the stigma can cause a belief that these problems are untreatable or that people with mental disorders are difficult, not intelligent, or incapable of making decisions. It can lead to abuse, rejection and isolation and exclude people from health care or . Even with health systems, people are not really being treated as people and are too often treated in institutions which resemble human warehouses rather than places of healing, comfort and rehabilitation.

So let’s Break The Stigma; Be Informed

Now Here are The Facts as According to WHO and other sources

Around 20% of the world’s children and adolescents have mental disorders or problems

One in 10 young people experienced a period of major depression

Mental and substance use disorders are the leading cause of disability worldwide

About 800,000 people commit suicide every year, it is the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds

Mental disorders increase the risk of getting ill from other diseases

Few countries have laws or a legal framework protecting people with mental and psycho-social disability

There is a shortage of mental health care professionals

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Here are clarifications on several Myths

Myth: Children/youth don’t experience mental health problems

It is known that half of all mental health disorders show first signs before a person turns 14 years old, ¾ of mental disorders begin before the age of 24.

Myth: There is no hope for people with mental health problems. Once a friend or a family member develops mental health problems, he or she will never recover.

There is hope! Many studies show that people who have mental health problems get better and many recover completely. In this case, recovery can mean the process in which people are able to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities.

Myth: Therapy and self-help are a waste of time. Why bother when you can just take a pill?

Like with any illness treatment for mental health problems may vary depending on the individual and could include medication, therapy, or both. In most cases, a lot of individuals work with a system during the healing and recovery process. This often leads to a faster recovery

Myth: I can't do anything for a person with a mental health problem.

Friends and loved ones, who make up the system can make a huge difference in helping an individual with mental health problems as they can be important influences to aid them in getting treatment and the services they needed.

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The Importance of

Taking Care of Yourself

Mentally

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In the world we live in where it’s seemingly survival of the fittest, mental health is seen as a weakness. Most of us have been raised to be tough in this “cruel” world; to not cry over spilt milk. To be told that it’s just nerves, to be told it just by and that we are simply having a bad day. We often would even tell ourselves that but in reality, it’s okay to feel not okay. It is important to realise that sometimes we would really need that help. Whether is it by online, through a real-life friend, your family member, your teacher and especially to yourself; it will be important to express how you feel. You may never know that could be suffering. Take a moment every day to have a “mindfulness moment” or just simply have a breather, surround yourself with loved ones, find a ion, look for a hobby. For some, this will be very hard to do but it’s one of the important steps to really live a more healthy life. There are many sources you can go to and get help, as long as you strive to help yourself and you have some sort of system, then everything can get better. Change may be slow, but even the tiniest of steps matter. So yeah, in short, don’t let life overwhelm you so much, find someone to talk to, find some coping mechanisms to ease your mind. Let’s not allow this to take over our lives :).

Empathy vs Sympathy

When talking to others who have problems or just having some issues, it will be important to know the difference between empathetic statements or just empathy and sympathetic statements or just sympathy.

Empathy is the ability to experience the feelings of another person or to keep it simple “feeling with”. Sympathy is acknowledging another person’s persons emotional hardships and providing comfort and assurance or “feeling for”.

Tips

Hold back on giving advice

It would be natural to offer advice, but most people are just looking for someone who can listen out to them. Let the person really express their self, listen attentively, keep eye (but not too much, whatever makes the person feel most comfortable), if possible go to a more calm, comforting environment for this type of listening. You can also ask what they should do.

Example: “You know yourself best. What do you think would be most helpful to you right now?”

Avoid showing pity

Showing pity can make a feel a person feel insignificant or small. Instead, focus on the strengths of the person

Example: “You’re showing so much self-awareness in this situation. It’s really irable. Thanks for being brave enough to come to me with this.”

Don’t assume you know the whole story

It is impossible to know exactly how someone else feels. Replace statements like: “I know you feel…” with more tentative statements like “It sounds like you’re feeling…”

Validate difficult emotions

Sharing painful emotions is never easy and leave people very vulnerable. As stated before, let the person know that it’s ok to be not ok

Example: “It makes perfect sense that you’re feeling frustrated right now.”

Ask Questions

It’s ok to ask questions. Don’t do anything but really quench the desire to know more to better help or rather understand the person. Avoid “why” questions as they may sound judgemental. Instead, you can use “how” questions

Example: “How were you feeling when this first happened?”