Mental health denotes an individual’s psychological and emotional welfare. Good mental health is beneficial as it helps an individual to lead a healthy and happy life. It helps one to be resilient and have the ability to cope with the difficulties of life. Various factors influence a person’s mental health, and this includes a person’s genetic makeup and life events that they have been through. Different strategies can help one have good mental health. Some of the strategies include

  • Being active physically
  • Having a positive attitude
  • Having adequate sleep
  • Socialising and helping each other
  • When in need asking for help from professionals regarding your mental health
  • Having a healthy diet
  • Developing and applying effective coping skills to overcome your problem.

Mental health

What is a mental disorder?

Mental disorder is an extensive term that comprises a broad diversity of the conditions affecting how an individual thinks or feels. Metal disorders affect how we get through our daily lives. Various factors influence mental disorders, and this includes:

  • The environment
  • genetics,
  • biology
  • Day to day habits

Having health insurance can be of great help, especially to people with mental disorders. It shields one from financial strain when you visit the hospital to get treated as it caters for the hospital bill depending on what you’ve been insured for. Online reviews about health insurance companies will help you to select reliable health insurance companies. You can use sites such as Britainreviews.co.uk to find the online reviews. Some of the common mental disorders are discussed in this article.

Bipolar disorder

Statistics indicate the bipolar disorder affects approximately 45 million persons globally. Typically it comprises depressive and manic periods that are divided by period of having normal moods. The manic period entails having an irritable or elevated mood, rapid speech, over-activity, reduced need to sleep, and exaggerated self-esteem. Persons who only experience manic attacks but do not have the depressive period are also categorised as having bipolar disorder.  There exist effective treatments to treat bipolar disorder while it’s still in its acute phase. There also exist medications to stabilise an individual’s mood. Another vital component in the treatment of the bipolar disorder is psychosocial support to the affected individuals.

Depression

This mental disorder is standard and a major cause of disability globally. Statistics indicate that internationally about 264 million persons are affected by depression. Depression affects women more than men. Some depression signs include having low self-worth and feeling guilty, loss of pleasure or interest, a disturbed appetite or sleep, poor concentration and feeling tired. Depressed people also tend to have many physical complaints without an apparent physical cause. Depression can be recurrent and long-lasting. It has the effects of impairing considerably a person’s ability to function at school or work and cope with their day to day life. When it’s most severe, depression can lead to suicide.

It has been proven that depression is reduced by prevention programs both for adults and children. There exist effective treatments for depression. Moderate and mild depression can be treated effectively through psychotherapy or cognitive behaviour therapy, and antidepressants can treat severe depression. It is nevertheless imperative for one to be careful with antidepressant use. They should not be the first line of treatments when treating mild depression. They also shouldn’t be used with children. identification of factors causing  stress, including mental or physical abuse, difficulties in the workplace and financial problems, also helps in the management of depression

Dementia

Statistics points out that internationally about 50 million persons have dementia. This mental disorder is of a progressive and chronic nature, characterised by the deterioration of the cognitive function beyond the expected levels of normal ageing. It affects a person’s orientation, thinking comprehension, memory, learning capacity, calculation, judgements and language. Typically the cognitive function impairment caused by dementia is accompanied and sporadically preceded by a deterioration in social behaviour, emotional control and motivation. Various injuries and disease of the brain can cause dementia, including stroke or Alzheimer’s disease. Although there isn’t a definitive Dementia cure available or such a medication to alter its progression, there’s lots of research going on, and there are several clinical trial stages treatment currently ongoing. Local support is recommended to improve the lives of those with dementia.

In conclusion, mental health is an important factor in ensuring that we live quality lives. A strategy geared at ensuring we maintain our mental health at its best has been developed by the world health organisation. This plan entails; implementing strategies involving prevention, having effective governance and leadership for mental health and providing integrated and comprehensive mental health & social care service in community-based settings.