Mental Health

Of all the definitions possible for ‘mental health’, the one that makes the most sense to us day-to-day is ‘emotional and psychological well-being’. That means you deal with whatever you have to deal with appropriately, and that you can bounce back from down times. But if we keep making choices in our lives that keep our stress levels at the screaming point, eventually something is going to have to give. If you’re like most of us, you don’t want to think you’ve piled all this onto yourself. (I’m assuming you’re stressed because that’s the mantra of the early 21st century.) But if you’re complaining about not having time, well darlin’ you have the same twenty-four hours everybody else has. It’s up to you to figure out what to do with them without driving yourself crazy. I used the word ‘crazy’ on purpose. We all use it a lot, along with ‘nuts’, ‘loopy’, and a whole lot of others in casual conversation. But if the issue is actual mental illness, we go all euphemistic and our conversation becomes denial-shaped. If we were a truly mentally-healthy society, we would not shy away from mental illness as if it were something unclean. Okay, sometimes our physical resistance is down and we catch a cold, or develop a cancer. So we deal with it. Why should it be any different with mental illness?

So we’re frazzled and have a temporary melt-down, or we’re depressed and have a more serious breakdown. It happens. Why pretend otherwise? If the situation is circumstantial, the condition will probably improve when the circumstances do. If it is clinical, you have to get help. Many conditions with symptoms of mental illness are not a matter of psychosis, but some chemical imbalance, often subtle. For instance, a problem with thyroid levels can mimic all kinds of illnesses, physical as well as mental. Hormonal imbalances can trigger a cascade of symptoms. Sometimes a problem can be dealt with by behavioral conditioning, sometimes it requires chemical intervention (by prescription only, please). It’s not something you can determine without professional help.

Just as you address your physical health with nutrition, exercise, hygiene, recreation, and attitude, your mental health can be improved and maintained the same way. If you are attuned to both your body and your mind, you will be more aware of changes that might herald a problem and can nip it in the bud before it blossoms into something more serious. But if your family and friends notice changes and you do not, get a professional opinion!

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