Mental Health Awareness

 

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected.

 

Many factors contribute to mental health problems, including:

• Biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry
• Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse
• Family history of mental health problems

 

Mental health problems are common, but help is available. People with mental health problems can get better and many recover completely. Treatment and recovery are ongoing processes that happen over time. The first step is getting help.

  

Myth: Mental health issues can't affect me.

Fact: Mental health problems are actually very common. In 2020, about:

• One in 5 American adults experienced a mental health condition in a given year
• One in 6 young people have experienced a major depressive episode 
• One in 20 Americans have lived with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression.

Additionally, suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. In fact, it was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-24. Suicide has accounted for the loss of more than 45,979 American lives in 2020, nearly double the number of lives lost to homicide.

 

Myth: Children don't experience mental health issues.

 

Half of all mental health disorders show first signs before a person turns 14 years old, and three quarters of mental health disorders begin before age 24.

 

Unfortunately, only half of children and adolescents with diagnosable mental health conditions receive the treatment they need. Early mental health support can help a child before problems interfere with other developmental needs. 

 

 

Websites: Suicide Prevention Lifeline     and     Suicide Prevention from SAMHSA