Mental Health: a Burden

            When thinking about overall health, things like nutrition, exercise, and weight come to mind. People often associate these things with health, but they are not the only factors that deem a person health or unhealthy. Mental health is something that people forget about, but is still an important influence on a person’s general health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mental health is “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” (CDC, 2011). Unstable mental health symptoms such as changed in mood or thinking can attribute to mental illnesses and mental disorders. The most common form of mental illness in the United States is depression.  (CDC, 2011). There are many other burdens associated with poor mental health.

Poor mental health status isn’t mutually exclusive with mental illness; it can also cause other health problems down the road. According to the CDC:

Evidence has shown that mental disorders, especially depressive disorders, are strongly related to the occurrence, successful treatment, and course of many chronic diseases including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and obesity and many risk behaviors for chronic disease; such as, physical inactivity, smoking, excessive drinking, and insufficient sleep (CDC, 2011).

Because of these effects and the growing rates of mental health problems, the total death rates and years of potential life lost may possibly increase as well. These high death rates have put mental health on the Healthy People 2020 map. Since the numbers keep increasing for mental illness and related factors, Healthy People 2020 has created certain objectives to decrease the amount of deaths associated with mental illnesses and disorders. The severity of the mental illness can have debilitating effects. According to the Health People 2020 website, “an estimated 13 million American adults (approximately 1 in 17) have a seriously debilitating mental illness” (Healthy People 2020, 2013). Since depression is one of the most common debilitating mental disorders, Healthy People 2020 has made it one of the top priorities to fix.

Other objectives in Healthy People 2020 include suicide prevention and increasing treatment. There is a huge stigma associated with mental health illnesses. People may be less likely to seek treatment because they are ashamed of their illness and what others may think. This stigma is an enormous problem because if people are afraid to seek help, they may never get better, which can be a danger to themselves and others. There are screenings different treatment options for those who do seek help. If we want to decrease the amount of people burdened by mental health, we need to work on spreading the word and educating people on the topic. Education plays an important role in changing stigmas and negative connotations.

Stress can be one of the main contributors to poor mental health: it is a daily part of our lives. Athletes, college students, or adults are all susceptible to stress. Things like work, lack of a job, homework, money problems, and even poor sleeping habits contribute to daily stress. A main way to decrease stress is to take breaks from daily life and do something fun or relax. It has been claimed that laughter is the best medicine––this may not be entirely true, but it can help boost morale and promote better moods and attitudes.  Get out there and do something fun, laugh a little and enjoy time with people you love.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, July 11). Stigma of mental health. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/data_stats/mental-illness.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, September 1). Fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealthsurveillance/fact_sheet.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, July 1). Well-being. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/data_stats/well-being.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, July 1). Basics. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/basics.htm

Healthy People 2020. (2013 April 10). Mental health and mental disorders. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicId=28