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Are You a ‘Mentally Healthy’ Individual?

A person who handles their responsibilities, manages life’s daily stresses, and is productively fruitful to their community is assumed to be in a sound state of mind and called a mentally healthy individual [1].

Changes are taking place in the general living conditions of humans, which are effecting us as a whole. For example, the trend of sharing personal life details on social media, the speed of information spreading around the world, cultural gaps, rising expectations, and more are only adding fuel to the fire. With the inability to achieve what they see as minimum possibilities for themselves, young minds are getting more and more frustrated [2].

A survey conducted in US “2017 National Survey on Drug use and Health” found the prevalence of any mental illness (without functional impairment) to be 18.9% and prevalence of serious mental illness (with functional impairment) to be 4.5% among adults aged 18 or older [3].

What Are The Dangers Of Mental Illness?

Individuals with mental illness are more likely to suffer from distress, discrimination, marginalization, financial problems, and disturbed interpersonal relations. Mentally ill individuals effect their family members as well, causing sleeplessness (53.1%), headaches (44.2%), and tiredness (56.2%) in them [4]. There has also been a reported correlation between mental illness and committing crimes. Reported schizophrenic disorder was 32%, bipolar disorder was 17% and major depression was 73% prevalent in criminals according to a study [5].

A study aimed at finding the relation between physical and mental health, found an indirect effect of past mental health on physical health to be 9.7%. This is pretty significant and increases our emphasis even more on importance of mental health and good ways to take care of it [6].

5 Easy Ways To Care For Your Mental Health:

          1.) Get an Adequate Amount of Sleep

Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD, psychotic disorder, and suicidal thoughts are linked with sleep deprivation [7]. So, countering the sleeplessness and going to bed the same time every day can help to stabilize the routine and fix mental illness as well.

          2.) Exercise Daily

Daily exercise helps you focus your energy somewhere else than the stresses of your life, and to keep yourself contented with what you are doing in your life. Moreover, being indulged in vigorous exercise positively impacted on various mental health disorders; alcohol abuse and bipolar disorder [8].

          3.) Improve Your Diet

Improving your diet can positively affect your mental health, it has been implicated in mood, behavior changes, pathology, and treatment of various mental disorders [9]. For example, omega-3 fatty acid levels are declined in autism spectrum disorder, and administration of omega-3 fatty acid can be helpful in dementia [10].

          4.) Meditate

Meditation has become a famous method to deal with mental illness over the past 30 years, in clinical settings as well, it has been helpful mainly in substance use psychiatric disorders [11]. Along with its clinical and research-based evidence, there is recognition of the positive role of spirituality in rehabilitation and recovery as well [12].

          5.) Avoid Drugs and Alcohol

Keep alcohol consumption levels to a minimum to avoid dependence on it. Avoid ‘self-medication’ as well. A great proportion of mentally ill patients has had complaint of alcohol or any other drug abuse history, once in a lifetime [13].

Mental health is just as important as your physical health. If you think you are having issues with your mental health, sit back, take your time and deal with it, seek help from a trained psychiatrist, and do what you need to help keep you staying mentally healthy.

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References:

1.) Galderisi S., Heinz A., Kastrup M., Beezhold J., Sartorius N. Toward a new definition of mental health. World Psych. 2015;14:231–233. doi: 10.1002/wps.20231.

2.) WORLD HEALTH REPORT 200t-MENTAL HEALTH by REGIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN available at https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/121922/em_rc48_inf_doc_1_en.pdf

3.) Mental Illness available at Mental Illness available at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml

4.) Fekadu W, Mihiretu A, Craig TKJ, et alMultidimensional impact of severe mental illness on family members: systematic reviewBMJ Open 2019;9:e032391. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032391

5.) Côté G, Hodgins S. Co-occurring mental disorders among criminal offenders. The Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 1990 ;18(3):271-281.)

6.) Ohrnberger J, Fichera E, Sutton M. The relationship between physical and mental health: A mediation analysis. Soc Sci Med. 2017;195:42-49. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.008

7.) Wilson, C., Carpenter, J. & Hickie, I. The Role of the Sleep-Wake Cycle in Adolescent Mental Illness. Curr Sleep Medicine Rep 5, 118–127 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40675-019-00145-y

8.) Dakwar E, Blanco C, Lin KH, et al. Exercise and mental illness: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). J Clin Psychiatry. 2012;73(7):960-966. doi:10.4088/JCP.11m07484

9.) Owen L, Corfe B. The role of diet and nutrition on mental health and wellbeing. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2017;76(4):425-426. doi:10.1017/S0029665117001057

10.) K.W. Lange. Omega-3 fatty acids and mental health. Global Health Journal, 4 (2020), pp. 18-30, ISSN 2414-6447, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glohj.2020.01.004

11.) Elias Dakwar & Frances R. Levin (2009) The Emerging Role of Meditation in Addressing Psychiatric Illness, with a Focus on Substance Use Disorders, Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 17:4, 254-267, DOI: 10.1080/10673220903149135

12.) Roger D. Fallot (2001) Spirituality and religion in psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery from mental illness, International Review of Psychiatry, 13:2, 110-116, DOI: 10.1080/09540260120037344

13.) Kristen L. Barry, Ph.D., Michael F. Fleming, M.D., M.P.H., James Greenley, Ph.D., Prudence Widlak, Ph.D., Svetlana Kropp, M.S., David McKee, Ph.D., Assessment of Alcohol and Other Drug Disorders in the Seriously Mentally Ill, Schizophrenia Bulletin, Volume 21, Issue 2, 1995, Pages 313–321, https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/21.2.313