How to know that your mental health is being affected?
Aniket Arora
Psychologist | Career counselor | Youtuber at Psychologist Baba | Photographer | Video Editor
22nd May: Mental Health Awareness Week (5/7)
How to know that your mental health is being affected?
It is quite reasonable to have mental health concerns from time to time. While at the same time it can be quite difficult to understand it sometimes. There are still some warning signs or symptoms that help us understand if our mental health is being affected or not.
It is when such ongoing signs and symptoms create stressors in our lives and affect our functioning, they are more likely to become a mental illness. A mental illness such as depression, anxiety, eating disorder, addiction, can have a very serious impact on our daily life, be it at school, office, or even in our relationship.
Fortunately, in most cases, they can be treated by a professional, or at least made stable, depending on the severity of the case.
Here are some warning signs that can help you understand if you are becoming a victim of your own mental health:
- Disoriented thinking
- Unable to focus or concentrate
- Prolonged sadness, or low mood
- Inability to understand own feelings
- Isolating from others
- Uncontrollable fear, or anxiety-provoking thoughts
- Changes in diet or sleep
- Having low or no energy at all
- Being frustrated quite often, or expressing anger or resorting to violence
- Suicidal ideation
- Self-mutilation (cutting, burning of body parts; generally covered areas)
- Seeing, hearing things that don’t even exist
- Substance abuse
- Unexplained aches
- Being unable to deal with daily hassles
- Showing disinterest in previously loved activities, or almost everything
While for some children and teenagers it can also be:
- Adjustment difficulty in school/college
- Below average school performance, despite strong efforts
- Separation from a loved one
- Social isolation
- Being rebellious in nature
- Temper tantrums
- Hyperactivity
- Having nightmares
P.S. - It should be understood that such signs and symptoms, do not always support the face value of mental illness, in certain cases there can be presence or absence of such signs and symptoms to be termed as a mental illness.