What Is Mental Health?

What Is Mental Health?

Mental health refers to how a person thinks, feels, and acts. It is a state of mental well-being in which people recognize their potential, cope with life stressors, and positively contribute to society. Despite stressors, people with good mental health can enjoy life and give back to their community.

Negative or positive thoughts influence how someone feels, and those thoughts and feelings affect their behavior. A mentally healthy person can properly manage any adverse mental health symptoms as they arise, but a person struggling with a mental health disorder may need more support to cope with stressors.

Why Is Mental Health Important For Overall Health?

Mental health directly impacts physical health, which is vital for overall well-being. Since how a person thinks influences how they feel, this will ultimately affect how they behave.

Negative thoughts may lead to harmful actions. This happens because the same parts of the brain that regulate emotions also regulate pain. Negative thoughts release stress hormones, setting off a chain of reactions, including imbalanced hormones, high blood pressure, and even heart disease. Experiencing pain or sickness also causes stress, which changes the brain’s ability to produce neurotransmitters associated with reward and pleasure.

Mental health disorders, like depression and anxiety, are known to cause bodily aches and pains, and when someone doesn’t feel good physically, their mental health is not optimal. It becomes a cycle that causes a lack of motivation, interferes with relationships, impacts decision-making, and prevents someone from contributing to society. All of these reduce a person’s quality of life.

Fortunately, the brain is trainable. It has neuroplasticity, meaning someone can change thought patterns to achieve positive outcomes. Training the brain to replace unhealthy thoughts with healthy ones can improve a person’s physical and psychological symptoms.

How Common Are Mental Illnesses?

Mental health disorders are conditions that disrupt a person’s everyday thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

The National Institute of Mental Health reports the following statistics:

• Approximately 57.8 million people deal with mental illness.
• Young adults had the highest number of people with mental illness, at 33.7%.
• An alarming 49.5% of adolescents have a mental illness.
• At least 14 million adults had a mental illness, or 5.5% of American adults.
• Young adults had the highest number of mental illnesses, at 11.4%.
• Out of the 57.8 million adults with mental illness, only 26.5 million received treatment.

The statistics do not account for the many mental health disorders that are misdiagnosed or not yet diagnosed.

What Causes Mental Illness?

Throughout life, people acquire risk factors and protective factors. Risk factors make it more likely for a person to develop a mental illness, while protective factors make it more likely to avoid a mental illness. However, neither risk nor protective factors are guaranteed.

Risk Factors For Mental Health Conditions

Risk factors can result from a person’s living environment, relationships, and experiences. There are common risk factors among people with mental health disorders, including:

• Genetics
• Past traumatic experiences, such as abuse
• Brain chemistry or an imbalance in neurotransmitters that affect mental health
• Eating unhealthy foods over long periods
• Misusing drugs or alcohol
• Living in a home with people who have untreated mental illnesses
• Living in a home where drug and alcohol misuse is encouraged
• Lack of physical activity
• Lack of meaningful relationships with family, friends, and acquaintances
• Lack of employment or living below poverty
• Living in a high-crime neighborhood
• Having physical ailments that have not been adequately treated

Having risk factors does not guarantee someone will have a mental health disorder. However, the more risk factors they have, the greater the chance for development.

Types Of Mental Health Disorders

Hundreds of mental health disorders exist, but some are more common than others. The following are brief explanations of the most diagnosed mental illnesses in the US.

Depressive Disorders

Depression, in any form, is a disorder with symptoms that may interfere with a person’s ability to function. Symptoms must be present for at least two weeks for a diagnosis.

Various types of depressive disorders include:

• Major depression
• Persistent depression
• Postpartum depression
• Perinatal depression
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Psychotic depression

Depression can be treated with medication, cognitive-behavioral therapies, support groups, family therapy, or a combination of these methods.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders may include:

• General anxiety
• Panic attacks
• Phobias
• Agoraphobia
• Social anxiety
• Separation anxiety

A wide range of uncomfortable symptoms may appear with anxiety, including sweating, pacing, and heart flutters, and some may feel like they are going to faint.

Most anxiety disorders can be treated with antianxiety medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), or both.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

PTSD is a mental health disorder that can develop after a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatic event.

Symptoms of PTSD include:

• Flashbacks of past trauma
• Emotional numbness
• Insomnia
• Destructive behaviors

Treatment methods for PTSD include psychotherapy techniques, often CBT, and antidepressant medications.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD is a mental health disorder involving recurrent and unwanted thoughts and/or actions that are disruptive to a person’s daily life and activities. Those with OCD present with:

• Obsessions
• Compulsions
• Social isolation

CBT is often an effective treatment for OCD, as it teaches the person essential coping skills to help handle unwanted thoughts and feelings. Antidepressant medications are also prescribed to treat OCD symptoms.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that impairs a person’s ability to organize speech and think clearly. Many people with schizophrenia experience hallucinations or delusions. Schizophrenia typically appears in someone in their twenties, but there are rare cases where it appears at various ages. Misusing drugs and alcohol can sometimes trigger schizophrenia. Medications are available for treating schizophrenia to reduce the hallucinations and delusions.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism symptoms usually appear in childhood and may present with:

• Problems communicating or interacting in social settings
• Repetitive behaviors
• Extreme interest in specific activities or subjects

A child’s symptoms can interfere with their ability to build friendships, perform academically, and care for themselves. A therapist specializing in autism can teach others how to continue therapy in the child’s natural environment. For example, family members can learn to implement strategies at home, like rewarding good behavior with positive reinforcement or creating a routine because structure helps them thrive.

Bipolar Disorder

When someone has extreme mood changes from depression to mania, they may have bipolar disorder. While everyone has ups and downs in life, someone with bipolar disorder experiences shifts in mood that interfere with how they work and take care of responsibilities. In manic phases, they tend to seek pleasure and engage in risk-taking behaviors. In depressive phases, they may want to sleep all day and isolate themselves from family and friends. Choices they make in either phase can directly derail work, home, academic, and social goals. Bipolar is effectively treated using medications and cognitive-behavioral therapies and can usually be done on an outpatient basis.

Conduct Disorder

Youth and teens are typically diagnosed with conduct disorder, which is when they exhibit aggressive or antisocial behaviors. Children may seem angry and defiant, especially toward authority figures like teachers or parents. Other examples of conduct disorder behaviors may include:

• Lying
• Stealing
• Arson
• Refusing to follow rules
• Abuse toward others
• Running away
• Substance misuse

Treatment options include individual behavioral therapy within a structured clinical environment.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders can affect any person at any age, even young children. Different types of eating disorders include:

• Anorexia nervosa,
• Bulimia,
• Binge eating disorder
• Avoidant restrictive intake disorder
• Pica
• Rumination
• Over-exercising

They are caused by psychological factors that lead to unhealthy habits. If left untreated, eating disorders can become life-threatening. People can overcome eating disorders by participating in cognitive-behavioral therapies with a licensed eating disorders specialist.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

ADHD is mostly diagnosed in children, teens, and young adults. However, it can affect anyone at any age. ADHD’s primary symptoms include an inability to pay attention or stay focused, hyperactivity or being impulsive, or a combination of these. Some people may show more impulsive behaviors and less inattentiveness, while others may be able to control impulsive behaviors but cannot sit still or concentrate. Medications and behavioral therapies are successful treatment options for ADHD.

Diagnosis Of Mental Health Conditions

A licensed mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or therapist, must diagnose a mental health disorder. They perform a comprehensive assessment that covers a person’s mental health history, family history of mental health, living environment, support system, employment, and more.

Each type of mental health disorder must meet specific criteria established by the American Psychiatric Association and published in the DSM-5. It states a person must meet the definition of a mental health disorder, which includes:

• Having a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome.
• Having distress or disability in functioning.
• Having unexpected or abnormal responses to an event or situation.
• Manifesting behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction.
• Having symptoms not related to social deviance or societal conflicts.

In addition, a person must meet the criteria created for a specific mental illness. There are over 200 disorders listed in the DSM-5, each with separate criteria.

Treatment For Mental Illness

Treatment for mental health disorders will vary for each person. Usually, a combination of one or more of the following leads to the best outcomes.

Medications

Most major mental health disorders can be treated with medication to reduce or eliminate negative symptoms. Medications require a psychiatrist or physician prescription and are often paired with counseling, including those listed below.

Antidepressants And Antianxiety Medication

Antidepressants are the go-to medicines for treating depression and anxiety. Many doctors prescribe selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), or norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitors (NDRIs).

• Antidepressants are a type of long-term therapy and are taken daily. Their full effects can take three or four weeks to appear. They are not narcotics, and someone can work, drive, and be fully functional while taking them
• Benzodiazepines are a short-term treatment for anxiety. Although it is prescribed for use on an as-needed basis., a person may develop a tolerance or dependence on the drug when taken regularly, which can lead to withdrawal symptoms when someone tries to stop taking it.
• Buspirone is a daily antianxiety medicine that takes three to four weeks to reach full effect. It treats anxiety disorders over a long period.
• Stimulants help control symptoms of mental health disorders such as ADHD and narcolepsy. They improve a person’s ability to stay alert, focus, and have energy. Stimulant medicines most often contain either amphetamines or methylphenidate, with popular stimulants being Ritalin and Adderall. While some people misuse these drugs, they are safe when taken as prescribed and under a doctor’s care.
• Antipsychotic prescriptions are given to people who have a disorder that involves hallucinations, delusions, or delirium. Antipsychotic medications may be part of a treatment plan for psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, postpartum psychosis, or psychotic depression.
• Mood stabilizers, like Lithium, help treat manic and depressive episodes of bipolar disorder, suicidal ideations, and impulse control problems.

New medications are being created by pharmaceutical companies each year, so doctors may recommend newer versions as they arrive on the market.

Mental Health Treatment Therapies

Treatment plans for mental health disorders often include psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and humanistic therapy. Each treatment aims to improve people’s functioning at work, home, school, and socially.

Psychodynamic Therapy

People develop recurring behavioral patterns when dealing with bad experiences. By comparing their past experiences and reactions, a therapist can discover a pattern and then help someone break it. They replace the unhealthy response with healthy actions. Practice points include interpretation, confrontation, clarification, elaboration, validation, praise, and affirmation.

Specific types of psychodynamic therapies include interpersonal therapy, mentalization, eye movement desensitization, and reprocessing (EMDR) for trauma. They can treat a wide range of mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress, panic attacks, and personality disorders.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is talk therapy between a person with a mental illness and their therapist. The therapist uses various methods to help people recognize negative thinking patterns and replace them with healthy ones. The idea is that thoughts (cognitive) influence actions (behavior), and having negative thoughts makes it more likely someone will exhibit unhealthy behaviors. It teaches someone how to control their thoughts and have a clearer mind that helps them recognize and redirect harmful or distorted thoughts.

Unlike psychodynamic therapy, CBT focuses on the problems someone is dealing with currently. CBT is effective in treating many mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, eating disorders, and trauma-related issues.

There are numerous sub-therapies that CBT therapists use for specific disorders. For example, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is CBT that focuses on being mindful and aware of the current situation. It can help people with personality disorders, mood disorders, interpersonal issues, and self-harm.

Additional sub-therapies are stress management, progressive relaxation, exposure therapy, and cognitive restructuring.

Integrative Therapy

Some therapists utilize more than one type of therapy, called integrative therapy, and develop treatment plans that consist of several approaches to treat the whole person. For example, a therapist may choose CBT, medication management, and meditation to help someone cope with generalized anxiety disorder.

Current research shows holistic therapies are helpful in the treatment of anxiety, depression, stress, and trauma. Popular complementary or integrative therapies include:

• Natural supplements
• Deep breathing
• Meditation
• Chiropractic treatment
• Massage
• Yoga
• Dietary changes
• Progressive relaxation
• Guided imagery
• Homeopathy

Family Therapy

Family members are a crucial part of the healing process. Family therapy offers psychoeducation, skill training, and support to teach them how to help their loved one’s recovery. Therapists use cognitive-behavioral therapies that focus on treating the family system to improve relationships and stop generational problems.

Treatment Programs

Professionals use a person’s symptoms and severity to determine which treatment program is most appropriate. Inpatient programs are for people experiencing unmanageable symptoms, such as self-harming thoughts or behaviors. People experiencing mild symptoms can choose from multiple outpatient programs.

Inpatient Crisis And Emergency Care

Inpatient programs offer 24-hour medical supervision for anyone unable to control symptoms, such as having suicidal thoughts or exhibiting harmful behaviors. Medical staff can monitor and assess a person while also providing medication to help ease mental health symptoms.

Inpatient Rehabilitation

Inpatient rehab is an excellent place for people who need access to medical staff around the clock but are stable enough to attend individual and group activities throughout the day. People in this program may need guidance as they begin new medications. They live in this hospital-like environment until they are stable enough to move to a residential setting or outpatient program.

Residential programs are the same as inpatient rehab, except people spend their nights in a hospital-owned residence. It is most likely a home with all the necessary amenities but without 24-hour access to medical staff. Residents are expected to attend individual and group therapies daily.

Partial-Hospitalization Program (PHP)

People can attend a partial hospitalization program four to five days a week, during the day only. They spend at least 16 hours in therapy to learn life and recovery skills. They return to their home environment at night if it has been approved as a safe, supportive space.

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

Intensive outpatient programs are like PHPs, except participants attend between 9 and 10 hours weekly. They participate in individual and group therapies. Outside of the program, they are encouraged to attend support groups.

Outpatient Counseling

Meeting one-on-one with a mental health therapist is the least restrictive treatment program. It is sometimes a starting point for someone with mild or minimal mental health symptoms. It may also be the last step in a continuum of care for people stepping down from more intensive programs. Therapists typically use cognitive-behavioral therapies to teach people how to improve their circumstances.

12-Step Facilitation Groups

Support groups, such as Emotions Anonymous, 12 Steps of Depressed Anonymous, and other specific groups, offer peer support that helps maintain recovery. Support groups are not just for a person with a mental health disorder but also for their family and friends.

Can Your Mental Health Change Over Time?

Mental health can change over time due to the experiences someone has throughout their life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when people become overwhelmed with their circumstances and lack the right coping skills, they may experience a mental health event. Some situations that may change mental health include the following:

• Joining the military and fighting in combat
• Losing your home in a natural disaster
• Being assaulted verbally, sexually, physically, or emotionally
• Losing a loved one
• Financial problems
• Living in a stressful home environment

Fortunately, your mental health can improve from unhealthy to healthy, too. Treatment is available for all mental health conditions, so no one has to live their lifetime struggling with mental illness. People can have a mental illness but learn how to cope and live a long, happy, and fulfilling life.

How To Learn More About Your Mental Health

Your mental health can affect all areas of your life, including personal, professional, academic, and social aspects. It is crucial you take steps to learn more about your mental health to see if there are areas that need improvement. One or more of the following steps is a great way to start your mental health journey:

• Meet with a licensed therapist for a mental health assessment.
• Meet with a licensed psychiatrist to discuss potential medication use to ease symptoms.
• Read online articles about your specific symptoms.
• Make a list of your risk factors and plan to reduce them.
• Increase your number of protective factors by changing your lifestyle.
• Engage in healthy and fun activities.
• Build a positive support system that can help you on your journey.
• Get involved with a local mental health awareness event.
• Take online courses or webinars on mental health.

Mental health can change over time and may be represented by mild, moderate, and severe symptoms. Fortunately, there are various effective treatment options for the many common disorders. The more information you gain about mental health, the better prepared you will be to deal with symptoms if they appear. Start your mental health journey today.