A Mental Health Breakdown
By Jacinta Atieno
If you are battling anxiety and depression, don’t let anyone tell you it’s “just stress”
Majority of people all over the world experience a mental health issue each day; but, we are yet to fully come to the realization what mental health is or what happens to us when we experience a mental health problem or a mental health breakdown.
Mental health includes our psychological, emotional, physical, and even our social well-being. It affects our daily life activities in that it affects how we think, how we feel, and even how we act and react towards different things and our approach of life. Nevertheless, if we all did our part in raising awareness in mental health issues and ending the stigma, everyone will be at a better position to know how to control their emotions, how to relate with one another under different circumstances, and also how to handle stress.
Mental health is a very important key in every step of one’s life, that is, from childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to adulthood. Many people all over her world experience mental problems. A mental health problem can get worse if it is not taken care of or controlled. Tragic experiences for example accidents, the death of a child, or even rape can cause trauma which may later to depression that may again lead to a mental health problem. All over the world, when someone is experiencing a mental health problem, how they think, how they behave, and their mood, and even how they talk is affected.
As mentioned above, here are some of the few reasons that may lead to one having a mental health problem or a mental health breakdown:
Trauma and abuse
Trauma can be defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience while abuse can be defined as a cruel and violent towards a person.
Experiences such as rape, domestic violence, or even discrimination and gender equality may lead to a traumatic experience that may later on lead to a mental health problem.
Another factor that may lead to a mental health problem can be biological factors such as genes. Anyone can be born with a mental health problem depending on the genes or brain chemistry. According to the U.S. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE, brain chemistry can be defined as changes in the number of various chemicals (neurotransmitters, receptors, enzymes, and other metabolites) specific to the area of the central nervous system contained within the head which enables the brain to carry out its daily functions such as generating movements, thinking, speaking, listening and regulating the systems of the body.
A mental health problem can also be caused by a family’s history of mental health problems. In some families, a family member can experience a mental health problem when the problem is believed to have been inherited or passed down from one generation to the other generation in a family’s lineage in history.
Our main focus on mental health problems should be how to take control of the problem and to curb the rising cases of mental health problems and mental illnesses all over her world. For self-care, to control mental health problems, one should avoid drugs or any other substances that may create stress on their body and also engage themselves in daily or regular physical exercises or go for counseling and also attend or seek medical guidance or see a therapist.
Sources;
HAS( Health Advisory Service) (1995) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. London: HAS.
Jorm, A.F. (2000) Mental Health Literacy: Public Knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders, British Journal of Psychiatry, 177:396–401.
