Monthly Spotlight: Mental Health

Mental and physical health are equally important components of overall health.  For example, depression increases the risk of many types of physical health problems, particularly long-lasting conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Similarly, the presence of chronic conditions can increase the risk of mental illness. --Center For Disease Control

Throughout our lives, multiple individual, social, and structural determinants may combine to protect or undermine our mental health and shift our position on the mental health continuum. Individual psychological and biological factors such as emotional skills, substance use, and genetics can make people more vulnerable to mental health problems. Exposure to unfavorable social, economic, geopolitical, and environmental circumstances – including poverty, violence, inequality, and environmental deprivation – also increases people’s risk of experiencing mental health conditions.

Risks can manifest themselves at all stages of life, but those that occur during developmentally sensitive periods, especially early childhood, are particularly detrimental. For example, harsh parenting and physical punishment are known to undermine child health, and bullying is a leading risk factor for mental health conditions.-- World Health Organization

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a mental health crisis for children and adolescents that had been worsening prior to the pandemic. Suicide has been the leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds since before the pandemic. Factors affecting children and adolescents include disruption of childcare/school, social isolation, loss of peer interactions, loss and grief, and parental/caregiver stress and well-being. --Contemporary Pediatrics

Mental health problems can have a wide range of causes. It's likely that for many people there is a complicated combination of factors – although different people may be more deeply affected by certain things than others.

For example, the following factors could potentially result in a period of poor mental health:

• Childhood abuse, trauma, or neglect
• social isolation or loneliness
• experiencing discrimination and stigma, including racism
• social disadvantage, poverty, or debt
• Bereavement (losing someone close to you)
• severe or long-term stress
• having a long-term physical health condition
• Unemployment or losing your job
• homelessness or poor housing
• being a long-term carer for someone
• drug and alcohol misuse
• domestic violence, bullying, or other abuse as an adult
• significant trauma as an adult, such as military combat, being involved in a serious incident in which you feared for your life, or being the victim of a violent crime
• with physical causes – for example, a head injury or a neurological condition such as epilepsy can have an impact on your behavior and mood. (It's important to rule out potential physical causes before seeking further treatment for a mental health problem.)

Mental illnesses, in general, are thought to be caused by a variety of genetic and environmental factors:

• Inherited traits. Mental illness is more common in people whose blood relatives also have a mental illness. Certain genes may increase your risk of developing a mental illness, and your life situation may trigger it.
• Environmental exposures before birth. Exposure to environmental stressors, inflammatory conditions, toxins, alcohol, or drugs while in the womb can sometimes be linked to mental illness.
• Brain chemistry. Neurotransmitters are naturally occurring brain chemicals that carry signals to other parts of your brain and body. When the neural networks involving these chemicals are impaired, the function of nerve receptors and nerve systems change, leading to depression and other emotional disorders.

Certain factors may increase your risk of developing a mental illness, including:

• A history of mental illness in a blood relative, such as a parent or sibling
• Stressful life situations, such as financial problems, a loved one's death, or a divorce
• An ongoing (chronic) medical condition, such as diabetes
• Brain damage as a result of a serious injury (traumatic brain injury), such as a violent blow to the head
• Traumatic experiences, such as military combat or assault
• Use of alcohol or recreational drugs
• A childhood history of abuse or neglect
• Few friends or few healthy relationships
• A previous mental illness

Information from Mind.org and the Mayo Clinic

• Anxiety disorders are the most common form of mental illness
  • nearly 1 in 5 (19.1%) affected
  • Major depressive episodes impact 8.3% of adults
• Women are more likely than men to experience depression
• Those who identify as American Indian or Alaska Native have the highest instances of mental illness within one group
• 17% of adolescents 12-17 experienced a major depressive episode
• 33.5% of adults with a mental illness also have a substance use disorder
• Almost 4x as many men commit suicide as women
• 45.2% of adults said COVID-19 had a negative impact on their mental health
• 14.5% of adolescents started drinking more alcohol during the first year of the pandemic
• 10.7% of adults were unable to get mental health services
• Almost 70% of adolescents 12 to 17 experienced a major depressive episode
• 64% of jail inmates have a mental illness compared to 21% of the general adult population.
• 90% of the public think there is a mental health crisis in the US today
• 1/3 of all adults report that they have felt anxious either always or often in the past year (2022)
• 1/3 of respondents could not get the mental health services they needed
• Cost is the biggest reason people go without the help they need
• Over 20% of American adults (more than 50 million) experience some sort of mental illness every year
  • 5% encounter a more serious mental health concern every year
• Fewer than 1% of Americans have schizophrenia
• More than half of U.S. adults with a mental illness (55%) are not getting treatment
  • That’s more than 28 million adults without the mental health care they need
  • Of those 28 million, more than a quarter (27%) reported having serious psychological distress in the past month
  • 42% said they cannot afford mental health care
  • 17% said their health insurance doesn’t pay enough for treatment
  • Other reasons for not seeking treatment for mental illness include not knowing where to get help (27%)
  • believing they can treat the issue on their own (26%)
  • not having enough time to seek treatment (19%)
• Suicide continues to be a leading cause of death in America, with 49,449 people dying by suicide in 2022
• 11.5% of youth experience severe major depression
  • higher rates (16.5%) for children identifying as more than one race
  • More than 16% of youth ages 12 to 17 experienced a major depressive episode in the past year

Information from USA Today, the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, and the American Psychological Association.

There are many ways you can help your mental health, and it can be a little overwhelming. So, we have put together a list of things you can do to help yourself and your mental health.

• Create a mental fitness plan
  • Set up times for you to exercise your brain with games, books, new skill learning, etc.
• Eat nutrient-rich food and drink water
• Take up a mindfulness practice
  • Like yoga, meditation, or walking
• Express your feelings and emotions
  • To a therapist, friend, family member, or a journal
• Have good sleep hygiene
  • Take a sleep at decent times, have clean sheets and pajamas, etc.
• Set goals for yourself
  • Personal or professional, and they can be simple like brushing your teeth twice a day or taking 10 min. to draw a picture
• Nurture social connections and relationships
  • Trust that you are NOT a burden and people WANT to know everything about you
• Rest
• Seek professional help
  • Sometimes professionals can have a personal pay plan so you can get the help you need without insurance and not have to pay an arm and a leg for the help.
• Practice gratitude
• Work on developing and creating healthy coping skills
• Keep up with physical help
  • Shower, exercise, eat healthy, etc.
• Do activities you enjoy
• Take a break from the news and social media
  • Having constant news streamlined to your brain is not going to be the best for your mental health
• Take time to unwind

Information was gathered from the National Institute of Mental Health, the CDC, the WHO, BetterUp, and MedlinePlus.