The Ultimate Guide to Mental Health: Everything You Need To Know

Mental health means the health of the mind. Whether your psychological health is good or not. Conversations about mental health are only picking up now because earlier, we didn’t have the knowledge or the apparatus to perceive problems of the mind.

In this blog, we will try to speak to people who aren’t sure what mental health is or who feel something is wrong but don’t know what it is.

Taboo comes from not knowing the reality of something but needing to talk about it. The best thing about taboo is that it often leads to research and conversation. Just like conversations around mental health, there are many myths and stigmas surrounding mental health.

Most of these are unfounded, and we could indeed do without them. Having said that, many misconceptions about mental health need to be cleared. Some of them are enumerated below.

Myth

You don’t see mental health problems too often.

Fact

Mental illness is everywhere. Mental health problems are a dime a dozen. Around one in every five people will go through a mental health issue during a particular phase of their life.

One out of every 25 people will suffer from a serious mental health issue, like bipolar disorder, anxiety, major depressive disorder, ADHD and schizophrenia. If you don’t think that the world is rife with mental health problems, it is because people are not talking about it.

Myth

Only adults suffer from mental health disorders.

Fact

This is completely wrong. Children suffer from mental health issues, too. Mental health issues are a combination of different factors, most of which are beyond the locus of control of the child or the parent. Unforeseen negative events occurring during childhood can result in mental health issues in teenagers.

Myth

If you have a mental health issue, you are bound to lash out physically.

Fact

Most mentally ill people are not violent. Data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration tell us that just 3%-5% of violent acts are the handiwork of people suffering from mental illness.

In contrast, people suffering from mental health issues are 10 times more likely to be the victim of some form of violence. Having said that, certain mental health issues result in the sufferer acting out physically and violently, like Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) and borderline personality disorder.

Myth

Mental health does not affect physical health.

Fact

Good mental health has a positive effect on your physical health. However, if your mental health is not doing too well, your physical health won’t be all that great either.

Mental health refers to the state of mind of a single person. While we do tend to believe that mental health is just defined by happiness and sadness, it is seldom as black and white. Mental health is a complex notion that delves deep into the crevices of your psychological health.

A person’s mental health can be affected and regulated by external and internal experiences, genetic predisposition and many other factors. Primarily, mental health depends on your emotional, psychological and social well-being.

Emotional Well-Being

When was the last time you said, “I am feeling good,” and you actually meant it? Forget that; when was the last time somebody actually asked you this question? Our emotions dictate our mental health.

If you experience positive emotions, such as joy, love, or compassion, regularly, you develop less stress and less anxiety, and you have fewer reasons to feel negative about yourself. It is as simple as that.

According to reports, people who experience love and compassion either do not suffer from mental health disorders or tend to recover from them.

Psychological Well-Being

Like emotional well-being, which depends a lot on external factors, psychological well-being is a lot about yourself. Psychological well-being refers to your overall emotional health and functioning.

If you feel satisfied with yourself, content with your life, and doing things right, you are psychologically benefited.

Components like self-acceptance, environmental mastery, fruitful relationships, purpose, personal growth, and autonomy are the driving factors of psychological well-being.

Social Well-Being

Humans are social animals. Social acceptance plays a huge role in making us feel positive. This refers to a sense of belonging you feel for a particular community and making a contribution to society.

Social well-being refers to the quality of your relationships with people, how you communicate, feel valued, and build trust.

Key Factors Contributing to Mental Health

A number of factors impact mental health. These are :-

• Biological factors - Your health, what you eat, your genetic make-up, how much you sleep, and your age.

• Psychological factors - These include your belief system, what your perceptions and addictions are, and what you stand for.

• Social factors - This includes your family, housing, relationships, money, work, and culture.

• Environmental factors - Poverty, inequality, environmental deprivation and violence.

• Stressful situations - Money problems, the death of a loved one, separation and unemployment.

• Trauma - Whether you have military combat assault or other incidents.

• Discrimination and stigma - Whether or not you are a victim of racism, other forms of discrimination or social exclusion.

In the dictionary of mental health, there are a million mental health disorders. It is primarily because our mind is as vast as our universe, and we don’t even know where to start looking. So, when something goes wrong in our mind, we try to understand the symptoms and give it a name.

In reality, every mental health disorder is a unique case because every human being is unique. However, based on the symptoms and the general source of origination, we have categorised them under some names, like anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, to name a few.

Depression is a complex mental health situation when a person is eternally stuck in a world of sadness. But don’t get it twisted - just because they’re smiling or laughing one afternoon doesn’t mean that their depression is cured. Depressed people with depressive disorder tend to circle back to their default now and then, and it only gets worse.

However, in the past few years, with the help of extensive research and development, we have identified certain temporary and long-term solutions through medication and therapy.

Symptoms of Depression

Hopelessness.

Things that you used to enjoy earlier aren’t so enjoyable now. Moreover, you become easily irritated or frustrated. Because of this, you either eat more than required or too little - resulting in unexpected weight gain or loss. You can’t sleep or oversleep.

You experience fatigue and issues concentrating - you can barely remember or make decisions. In short, your head is in constant chaos, and you can’t seem to find a way to get out of it.

People who have been suffering from depression for a prolonged period also show tendencies of self-harm.

Causes of Depression

Researchers are still trying to find out the exact cause of depression. Having said that many factors contribute to its development, such as

• Chemical Imbalance - A neurotransmitter imbalance, including serotonin and dopamine, can make you depressed.

• Genetics - If your parents or siblings are depressed, you are about three times as likely to develop it yourself.

• Stressful life events - Trauma, the death of someone you love, divorce, isolation and the lack of support can result in depression. If you have suffered trauma, lost someone close to you, or have suffered a major emotional setback, then you can develop depression.

• Medical conditions - Constant and chronic pain and conditions such as diabetes can result in depression.

• Substance Abuse - This is perhaps the saddest way to get depressed. If you fall prey to substance use, you are leaving the door wide open for depression.

Treatment

Don’t be depressed over depression - it happens to be one of the most treatable mental health conditions. Options for treatment include.

• Psychotherapy - This is probably the most common and well-practised treatment of depression. We have all heard people going to their shrinks to talk about their problems so that they can find a way out of their sadness.

• Medication - Medicines like antidepressants act on brain chemistry. There are many, so let the doctor determine which is best for you. Some of these have side effects, so make a note there, too.

• Complementary medicine - Within the purview of complementary medicine comes techniques and therapies like hypnosis, massage, acupuncture and biofeedback.

• Brain Stimulation Therapy - This is great for people with severe depression or depression with psychosis. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) come within its umbrella.

Do you oscillate between happiness and sadness in the blink of an eye? Does your anger skyrocket in a matter of seconds? Does it come back down to earth equally fast? These are some signs of bipolar disorder. One in 200 people suffers from bipolar disorder, but it is worse in India, where you meet one in 150 people suffering from bipolar disorder.

Signs of Bipolar Disorder

The standout sign of bipolar I disorder is one week long, where you feel happy about everything in the world, and then suddenly, all hell breaks loose the next moment.

A lot of people with bipolar disorder face hypomaniac/maniac and depressive episodes. These mood changes don’t follow a set pattern. Depression doesn’t always come after a manic phase.

A person might undergo the same mood state many times, punctuated with periods of euthymia, before experiencing the polar opposite mood. These bipolar mood changes take weeks, months, or even years. These mood changes depart from your regular self and are sustained for a considerable period. Mania might last for days or weeks, and depression might last months.

Types of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar I disorder

People with this have experienced one or more manic episodes. They will have mania and depression. However, the latter isn’t required for a diagnosis. With depressive episodes lasting at least a fortnight, the manic episodes need to last at least a week or be so bad that they warrant hospitalisation. People with bipolar I can face both manic and depressive symptoms.

Bipolar II disorder

People having this go through depressive and hypomanic episodes. But there’s never a full manic episode. Hypomania might be less impairing than mania; bipolar II is worse than bipolar I because of the depression in the former.

Cyclothymic disorder

People struggling with this are unstable mentally. They go through hypomania and mild depression for a couple of years. Brief periods of normal mood (euthymia) might occur, but that’s rare.

Management Techniques

Managing bipolar disorder is a combination of therapy and medication.

• Psychotherapy - Also known as talk therapy, this encourages patients to talk about their issues.

• Medication - Many medicines for bipolar disorder treat the ailment in people.

• Self-management strategies - Education and finding the early symptoms of an episode, or triggers can help.

• Making lifestyle changes - Exercising or doing yoga and meditation can help.

• Electroconvulsive Therapy - This is used when the patient does not respond to medication or exhibits dangerous symptoms.

Ever felt so worried that your heart wouldn’t stop beating? Anxiety disorders refer to a group of mental health issues that result in fear, dread or other symptoms. There are many kinds, like general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder and specific phobias.

Symptoms of Anxiety

When we look at symptoms of anxiety, they include feeling panic, dread, fear and uneasiness. You feel on edge and annoyed. There are uncontrollable, obsessive thoughts, issues with concentrating, and physical symptoms like feeling restless, shortness of breath, cardiac palpitations, muscle tension, cold, clammy hands, dry mouth, nausea, tingling in the extremities and insomnia.

Triggers for Anxiety

I know you could relate to some of the symptoms - but you’re probably wondering what triggers them. That makes the two of us. Like other mental health issues, researchers are still grappling with what causes anxiety disorders. What causes anxiety? It could be a combination of factors.

• Chemical imbalances - Our brain is a complex chamber of neurotransmitters and hormones like serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), norepinephrine and dopamine. A chemical imbalance could mean disaster.

• Brain changes - There’s a segment of your brain’s temporal lobe called the amygdala, which plays a vital role in anxiety and fear. According to studies, give someone anxious a cue, and they’ll show increased amygdala activity.

• Genetics - It’s all in the genes! Blame your parents for this one. If you have a first-degree relative with anxiety disorder, well, there’s bad news.

• Environmental factors - Continued exposure to extreme stress can change neurotransmitter balance, leading to anxiety disorders.

Coping Strategies

Just because you have anxiety does not mean that life will stop, would it? You need coping strategies not only to deal with anxiety yourself but also to assist others with the same problems.

Stay away from alcohol or drugs - Alcohol and drugs induce a sense of loss of control and intoxication. This can aggravate anxiety disorder.

• Eat well- A healthy diet with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish may help.

• Identify triggers - Pinpoint what situations or actions cause stress.

• Keep physically active - Make sure you exercise - it’s a great stress reducer and can help you stay healthy.

• Learn about anxiety - Speak to your healthcare provider as to what is causing it and the best course of action.

• Sleep, often and more - Rest is necessary. If you can’t sleep, speak to a doctor.

• Socialise - Don’t isolate yourself from your loved ones.

• Medicate - Take your meds, and do whatever the psychologist and psychiatrist say.

As it turned out, you cannot actually slap PTSD out of your soldiers, or anybody for that matter. Sorry, General Patton. PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is exactly what it says.

When a person is exposed to heightened stress for a certain period, they fail to dissociate from that situation and behave the same way in less stressful situations as well.

This is a fairly common mental health issue that can happen after a traumatic event, hence the name. It involves different symptoms like anxiety, flashbacks, hypervigilance, and negative thoughts and beliefs.

Triggers for PTSD

When we say trauma or a traumatic event, this could be anything that threatens your safety or existence. It doesn’t have to be a single event but a long-term one with frequent abuse.

Triggers

• A bad accident.

• Serious injury or sudden illness

• War and military conflict

• Natural disasters include fire, flood, earthquake, and tornado.

• Verbal and physical abuse.

• Sexual abuse or assault.

• Bullying.

• Death of someone you love.

Symptoms of PTSD

To have a diagnosis of PTSD, symptoms need to last for more than one month and have to cause a lot of distress or issues in daily functioning. PTSD symptoms fall into four categories.

Intrusion

• Interruptive thoughts, like constant, automatic memories.

• Nightmares.

• Flashbacks of the event causing the trauma.

Avoidance

• Steering clear of the traumatic event such as things, places, people, activities and situations.

• Not remembering or thinking about said traumatic event.

• Avoid conversing about what happened or how it made you feel.

Alterations in thinking and mood

• Constant fear, anger, shame, guilt or horror.

• Memory loss of important parts of the traumatic event.

• Constant negative and distorted thoughts and feelings either about yourself or others.

• Feeling detached.

• Not enjoying erstwhile enjoyable activities.

• Can’t seem to experience positive emotions.

Changes in arousal and reactivity

• Being irritable - angry outbursts.

• Reckless, self-destructive behaviour.

• Being overtly careful of your surroundings.

• Being startled easily.

• Issues with concentrating.

Healing methods

Psychotherapy - one of the most important ways to treat this, especially Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. A licensed mental health professional will do this, providing support, education and guidance so you function better.

CBT for PTSD includes -

• Cognitive Processing Therapy - Developed especially for treating PTSD, it concentrates on changing painful negative emotions and beliefs caused by trauma.

• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing EMDR Therapy - In this therapy, you move your eyes in a particular way while processing trauma. EMDR wants to treat your trauma.

• Group Therapy- In this type of therapy, survivors of similar traumatic events share their experiences in the hope that they can find some treatment.

• Prolonged Exposure Therapy - Detailed, repeated imaging of the trauma or progressive exposures to symptom triggers in a controlled manner.

• Trauma-focused CBT - This is all about learning how your body responds to trauma and stress.

If your mom is cleaning the room like a zombie, every time something small is out of place to cut her some slack, she probably suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In this mental health disorder, you fixate over something obsessively without a break.

Symptoms of OCD

The primary symptoms of OCD are obsessions and compulsions that mess with your regular activities. For instance, you are obsessed about keeping your cup in the same place every day, no matter what happens. These are problematic, but you can’t stop them. They come and go and ease or get worse over time.

Types of OCD

Usually, we use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, text revision (DSM-5-TR) to catch mental health disorders. This DSM-5-TR doesn’t specify OCD types, but some obsessions and compulsions might change depending on the situation.

• Cleaning and contamination.

• Symmetry, incompleteness and order.

• Harm (to self and others), shame and guilt.

• Taboo thoughts regarding religion, sexual behaviour and violence.

Treatment Options

In Big Bang Theory, when Leonard and his friends did not do anything about Sheldon’s OCD, I looked up whether it could be treated or not. Turns out, they could help him. Such bad friends! Anyways, coming back to reality, OCD is treatable.

The most common treatment plan involves psychotherapy and medication. If that doesn’t help, there’s always transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

• Psychotherapy for OCD - Known as talk therapy, this denotes a number of treatment techniques that want to help you catch and change unhealthy emotions, behaviours and thoughts. There are many types of psychotherapy, the most common being the most effective one.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - During CBT, your thoughts will be examined. CBT can change harmful thoughts and negative habits.

• Exposure and response prevention (ERP) - This is a type of CBT. A therapist will bring you in front of your feared situations or images and make you resist the urge to do a compulsive action.

• Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) - ACT makes you accept obsessive thoughts as just thoughts without any power.

Medication for OCD

Medicines for OCD include Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), selective SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants. Some SSRI’s include

• Fluoxetine.

• Fluvoxamine.

• Paroxetine.

• Sertraline.