How “Mental” is poor mental health?

Welcome to 2019, a time where we’re making great strides in conversations around mental health. Today is Time to Talk day, a day brought to us by Time to Change, a Mind and Rethink Mental Illness initiative, aiming to encourage everyone to talk about mental health.

However, when I tell people I am a mental health advocate I’ve watched people become nervous. I have heard people say that things are impossible due to mental health - and a friend of mine was even recently told she couldn’t do a job because of her mental health issues. It seems oh so easy to automatically associate mental health, to just mental, to mental asylums and then straight jackets. The word itself triggers this reaction - If someone says something is “absolutely MENTAL”, this is accepted to mean that it’s crazy, ludicrous, mad, or as urban dictionary suggests, “absolutely insane”.

But we all have mental health, just like we all have physical health. In that same way, we can experience poor mental health or mental illness. But it rarely means straight jackets. And unlike the ease that comes with quoting the symptoms of a common cold, many people are in the dark when it comes to accurately recognising what mental health problems actually look or feel like. Depression, for instance, could conjure a picture of someone crying in the corner of their bedroom but it’s actually not uncommon for someone suffering from a deep depression to become a workaholic and a life-of-the-party socialite.

Why should we care?

When we have a cough and the sniffles, we know that we can turn to lemsip. When we’ve pulled a muscle, epsom salts, arnica and some ibuprofen might help. But if we’re not actually aware of the signs of poor mental health then we have no way of helping ourselves or others. Just like how treating a physical injury can prevent it becoming something truly problematic, treating mental illness early can prevent long term sickness.

Mental illness impacts so much more than the mind

Let’s start by recognising that “mental” just relates to the mind, so the question we’re really exploring here is the psychological impact versus the physical.

Before I was referred to a psychiatrist and diagnosed with my own mental illness I saw seven doctors, had two batches of blood tests, was misdiagnosed with glandular fever, had a chest X-ray, an abdominal ultrasound, a basic neurological check and a urine test. My symptoms were so physical that I was convinced that there must have been something physically wrong - turns out, I was the one that was wrong. Most importantly, once I was correctly diagnosed, I was able to get treatment and almost immediately things started changing for the better.

A great example of this is Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) which is the most common standalone mental health disorder in the UK. People who suffer from GAD aren’t just generally a bit anxious, they experience an array of GAD symptoms on more days than not - 76% of which, are actually physical.

Symptoms of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (Source: NHS)

Psychological

• Restlessness
• A sense of dread, feeling constantly "on edge”
• Difficulty concentrating
• Irritability

Physical

• Dizziness
• Tiredness
• A noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbeat
• Muscle aches and tension
• Trembling or shaking
• Dry mouth
• Excessive sweating
• Shortness of breath
• Stomach ache
• Feeling sick
• Headache
• Pins and needles
• Difficulty falling or staying asleep

People experiencing fatigue, insomnia, shortness of breath and restlessness may put these things down solely to a poor diet or lack of physical activity - they may just think they’re having another bad day/week/month and continue to just “get on with it”. Someone who is experiencing nausea, muscle aches and tension, excessive sweating and irritability may tone down their exercise routine and start isolating themselves thinking they just need some downtime. In no ways am I saying that both of these combinations means a person has GAD (that’s only for a psychiatrist to say) however, without investigating if there is an underlying mental health problem the full toolkit of help can’t be explored, and therefore problems are likely to escalate.

What else should we be looking out for?

Poor mental health affects people in many different ways, below I’ve outlined some of the key factors that can be impacted. It’s critical to remember that if you, a loved one or a colleague ticks a few of these points that doesn’t mean that you have a mental illness. You might just be having a bad day, your colleague may have just been dumped, your friend may actually be a little lazy.

However, I’ve found that education around this area has been game changing for those who have been affected by mental illness, and loved ones of people who have suffered had wished they were better educated ahead of time so that they’d been able to step in and aid prevention prior to crisis.

Decline in work

• Decreased productivity
• Unable to maintain reliable hours at work
• Morale and cultural issues
• Lack of cooperation
• Memory problems
• Increased confusion around simple instructions
• Urges to escape uncomfortable situations
• Difficulty making decisions

Change in behaviour

• Quieter than usual
• Changes in personal hygiene/appearance
• Changes in social patterns: Isolation/socialite behaviour
• Irritability, impatience, anger
• Restlessness, jumpy, on edge
• More emotional than usual
• Generally distracted
• Repetitive compulsive behaviour

General complaints of poor health

• Frequent complaints of being tired
• Complaints of aches and pains
• Headaches
• Dry mouth
• Shortness of breath
• Changes in appetite
• More jumpy (on edge) than usual

Again, I must reiterate - we are not all psychiatrists and the intention of this post isn’t for all of us to walk away and self diagnose or to start pushing others who may not need help, or may not be ready for it.

It’s also critical to remember that being diagnosed with a mental health problem doesn’t mean immediately being signed off work, for many, maintaining a routine that includes social interaction and an element of control is crucial to recovery. One size of treatment doesn’t fit all.

Time to Talk

Time to Talk Day encourages everyone to talk about mental health, however, it’s near impossible to talk about something that is still largely misunderstood. It’s also a spectrum, we’re all on it, you can have good and bad mental health in the same day! There is a fear that the only way of understanding a mental illness is to have suffered before, but my hope is that by continuing to encourage this conversation and do our part to end the stigma surrounding these topics, more people will be able to get help themselves or support others who are struggling.

If you’re reading this and fear that you, a loved one or a colleague is suffering from any problems of the mind, please reach out to your GP, HR department and/or great charities like Mind and Rethink Mental Illness for help and support. For companies seeking to do more in the workplace supporting mental health, check out what Sanctus are doing.

I’ve previously posted some of my top tips on building mental resilience which can be accessed here.

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Edit / Update: Amber Coster is now founder of Balpro - The Balance Project, working with organisations to reach high-performance revenue goals, but not at the cost of their employees. Knowing that if you look after your people, they'll look after the business.