An Intro To Mental Health

Table of Contents

• What is Mental Health?
• Why Should We Care?
• Common Mental Illnesses
• Stories from My Past

What is Mental Health?

This topic could get dark, so why discuss it? What is mental health anyway? The CDC defines it as your mental, psychological, and social well-being. The choice to discuss a heavy topic like this one stems from a life-long struggle of my own as well as being a viewer of other people’s lives. It makes me think of the word, sonder, “the realization that every individual has a life as complex and real as one’s own.” It is valuable to note that there are three main leading causes of death for youth and young adults. Those being homicide, accidents or unintentional injuries, and suicide. This is a major reason why this discussion is so significant.

Why Should We Care?

Why else is this focus valuable? It gives you skills that may otherwise lay dormant. Knowing yourself and what happens within your mind helps you understand why you do what you do, and in turn makes it easier to cope with difficulties. It teaches your strengths and limits, which lets you better advocate for yourself and your needs. If nothing else, it teaches empathy.

Common Mental Illnesses

Common mental illnesses include depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, bipolar I and II, and PTSD. This is not an all-encompassing list, and doesn’t even scratch the surface of how people may struggle. It is important to note that while this list touches on some of the ways that these disorders are evident in people’s lives, they may show up differently for each individual.

Depression

Depression is when you have “lower lows” than a neurotypical person. Sometimes it is seasonal, sometimes it is an ongoing struggle year-round. It can be caused by internal or external factors. Internal factors may be genetics while external could be trauma or comparison. My experience with depression has been through both internal and external factors, where my seasonal depression is genetic, but I have also experienced it outside of that time due to external factors.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a sister to depression. It is generally treated with the same types of medications. Anxiety is all about worry, and it doesn’t have to make logical sense for the person struggling to be valid. For those who struggle with anxiety, they often overthink and their brain blows up a small thing out of proportion. Anxiety can also be shown more in different situations. Social anxiety is also a common part of this. In personal experiences, I have had trouble starting social interactions and staying in them. It has been evident to me through not wanting to walk into a gathering without another person with me or feeling anxiety when in crowds or sitting between two people.

OCD

Obsessive compulsive disorder is not perfectionism. It is, however, making, many times, illogical decisions based on what your brain says you must or must not do. In my personal world, I have seen or experienced checking, where the person struggling checks and rechecks things that could go wrong over and over, more than a neurotypical person would. With routines, the person with OCD goes through certain motions such as touching the doorknob three times, counting the corners of a certain star in your room, and praying for every person in your family’s safety by name before being able to go to bed and sleep. Being a germaphobe in an illogical way is also part of this where, for my case, an event happened that caused my brain to have an aversion to touching something. It also is something that causes over-washing your hands. There are many types of OCD that I have not covered and even ones that I have seen and/or experienced personally.

ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is now the accepted term for ADD, which is an outdated term for the same thing. Those with ADHD have a hard time focusing on tasks that their brain deems uninteresting. They may also hyperfixate on hobbies or suddenly lose interest in something they had been enjoying for a long time.

Bipolar I & II

Bipolar I & II is when you have both depressive and manic episodes, Bipolar I being more severe highs and lows. Manic episodes are episodes with high energy and distraction that may cause more irrational decisions. For bipolar II, there is a lower version of mania called, “hypomania.” People with bipolar I may experience psychosis in their manic episodes. It is also possible for those with bipolar II, but it is not common. I have watched a close friend of mine experience some of these symptoms where they said some concerning and strange things in manic episode and attempted suicide in a depressive episode. It is more common for those with bipolar I to require hospitalization for episodes on either side of the spectrum.

PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder is caused by trauma from someone’s past, lingering at least one month as a continuation of acute stress disorder or onset up to 6 months after the trauma. Acute stress disorder starts immediately after the event and lasts 3 days to 1 month later after.

Stories From My Past

When I was in high school there was a kid who died by suicide. Another suicide followed. There was a push for a mental health focus after that. I took a picture of large white butcher paper pasted on the wall labeled, “I choose to stay.” Students were invited to sign the paper and remember to keep your life. The staff worked to create a short film with a meticulously written poem about the subject titled, “We See You.”

In August this year, I unfortunately found that a person within my friend’s church congregation had been lost the same way. From the words spread, nobody knew his struggle. Friends and family were caught by surprise. He had been a light in the darkness for many, but not himself. Two weeks later, the brother of my friend passed by suicide, and with a third suicide later that month, each one came closer and closer to my heart and my home.

I had one friend of mine once ask why someone had a tattoo of a semicolon, which I knew was a symbol of persistence and the choice to stay. It is for those who have struggled with suicidal thoughts that have chosen not to follow them. Where their story could have ended, but they chose to keep going.