Mental Health is a person’s overall psychological and emotional condition. “Good” menta health is a state of well-being in which a person is able to cope wit the everyday events think clearly, be responsible, meet challenges, and have a good relationship with others

how has mental health changed over time?

Today’s social media and phones are having negative impacts on it, it’s giving people an idea of what a “perfect Person” is when in reality those people are not even real. Thara Nagarajan, a therapist in Chicago, says “I believe that social media and phone use has negatively impacted mental health. I think that these things disconnect people from in person interactions which are so important to have. Social media presents picture-perfect images of peoples’ lives which are not the whole story and I think that makes others think that their life has to look just as perfect.”

Where does it start?

The most common reasons people begin to have a mental health issue is because of childhood trauma, abuse, and/or neglected. Childhood trauma can cause difficulty with attention and focus, learning disabilities, low self-esteem, impaired social skills, and sleep disturbances. Childhood abuse can cause reduced volume in the hippocampus, which is central to learning and memory. Childhood neglection can cause disrupts the ways in which children's brains develop and process information, thereby increasing the risk for attentional, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral disorders.

Symptoms

    It just depends on who has what but commonly, the symptoms are affecting, if it's an eating disorder the symptoms are about how they hear or if it's a sleep disorder that the symptoms are related to how they sleep or their sleep schedule.

Treatments

  There are a bunch of different ones but commonly treatments can be a form of therapy, training yourself by eating less/more, not buying something/not having it in the house, you can take medicine specific to a person's type of Mental Health Issue.

What can friends and family do to help/support someone?

 Thara Nagarajan says“I think the most important thing that people can do to support each other is to try to truly “see” each other. To give people the benefit of the doubt and see each others’ best selves. And when someone is struggling, to tell them that you are there for them, and continue to be there by checking in and being loving.”

What can someone do for themself?

Thara Nagarajan “One of the best things to do for your own mental health is to look at your thoughts, what you “tell yourself.” Is what you are saying true? Is it helpful? Oftentimes people spend a lot of time thinking things that are not helpful, and these thoughts impact their feelings and behavior.” Someone can work out, move, and/or take medicine

Where to go to get help?

  You Call 9-8-8 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or Text “start” to 678678. You can go to therapy places. You can also go to your school counselor and ask then for more places you can go to for help.

Where to go to Find out More

   If you want to find out more information about a specific mental health issue, look at one of the WHO(World Health Organisation) websites. They will most likely have a lot more reliable information.