5 Common Signs of Anxiety

Usually, when we get anxious, the feeling passes after some time. However, when it reoccurs frequently and continues over a long time, you may be faced with more than just anxiety, but a disorder. Here are 5 common signs by which you can identify someone suffering from anxiety.

  • Sense of Uncontrollable Fear and Worry

This is usually the first sign of anxiety. The sufferer begins to experience feelings of dread or impending danger. These assertive feelings of doom in turn set the nerves on a roller-coaster of reactions.

  • Physical Body Reactions

Another sign of anxiety is the physical responses the body reflexively gives off. These signs include excessive sweating, shortage of breath, palpitations, hyperventilation, choking feeling, shaking, chest or stomach pain, and chill sensations, to mention but a few.

  • Psychological Reactions

The body isn’t the only thing that shows signs of anxiety, the mind does too. It gets all fuzzy, restless, and you begin to think obsessively about the possibility of bad things happening. These feelings are usually not attached to any particular occurrence, they just spring up spontaneously.

  • Insomnia, Lack of Concentration, Tiredness

Another sign of anxiety is the inability to sleep or sleep soundly through the night. Sleep gets interrupted time and again, and by daybreak, you’ve barely slept at all. This causes tiredness and lack of concentration during the day.

  • Derealization and Detachment

These usually occur during panic attacks and they are a sign that you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder.

Derealization occurs when you begin to have feelings of unreality; you see, hear or feel things that are not. Detachment, on the other hand, has you detached from yourself, you feel out of your body and unresponsive to reality.

Anxiety takes many forms and has many symptoms. These symptoms also differ from person to person in both mannerism and severity.

5 Common Signs of Depression

We all get sad at one point or the other when we have unpleasant experiences. However, feeling sad doesn’t mean we are depressed.

With these 5 common signs, you can tell if someone is depressed, on the condition that the signs last for at least two weeks and beyond.

  • Sudden Change in Behavior

The most common behavioral change in people going through depression is withdrawal. You just notice someone who used to be outgoing and lively is suddenly reserved, moody, and seldom talks. This can be a warning sign that the person is depressed, especially if the spell stretches for weeks or months.

Although not so common, the change can also be the other way round.

  • Nonchalance Towards Former Things of Interest

Another sign of depression is a lack of desire for pleasurable things, such as sex, hanging out with friends, or anything one used to love. This sign can also take the form of loss of appetite. This consequently leads to weight loss and in more severe cases, sicknesses and diseases due to malnutrition.

  • Fatigue, Loss of Focus, Insomnia

These are common effects of psychological stress. They however become a problem that requires urgent attention when they are persistent for a long time.

  • Incessant Drinking and Substance Abuse

In a bid to either forget their worries or restore life to their drowning souls, people experiencing trauma or mental stress exhibit this sign. Unfortunately, drinking and substance abuse only lead them further into depression.

  • Verbal Signs of Hopelessness

When people begin to speak lightly of their death, make hopeless remarks persistently or give indications of self-harm, it’s also a sign they may be depressed.

Depression goes way deeper than sadness and is more persistent. If a friend or loved one suddenly exhibits these signs out of the blues, you need to pay more attention to them.

Meanings of common mental health problems

Mental health problems are also called mental disorders or illnesses that affects your mood, behavior, feeling and thinking. Mental health problems can either be chronic or mild. And they affect your ability to communicate and relate with people each day.

Here are some common mental health problems you should know:

Anxiety

Everyone experiences anxiety but for some people, it gets to the extent when they are unable to control it. Anxiety becomes a mental health problem when the individual experiences fear, worry or anxiety that prevents them from carrying out their daily activities.

Depression

Depression is a mental health problem that occurs when an individual experiences low mood that goes on for a long while and affects their normal life.

This mental health disorder makes the individual to lose interest with what goes on around them, and it even affects their communication with people.

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes high and low moods. At intervals, an individual with bipolar disorder switches between being overly excited to being depressed. And this is usually exhausting for them.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

PTSD occurs when an individual is unable to get over a tragic event. When these individuals see anything that reminds them of that event, they get triggered and become unnecessarily anxious.

PTSD can go on for as long as possible and if they are not helped, individuals can have chronic anxiety.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

OCD is a mental health disorder that occurs when an individual experiences obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. The individual first starts by processing excessive thoughts that breed repetitive behaviors known as compulsions.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects the thought pattern of an individual. It affects the way the individual thinks, feels and behaves. The individual becomes out of touch with reality, with slurred speech being one of the prominent features.

If you know anyone with these mental health problems, it is advised they seek help to get their lives back on track.

Benefits of mental health counseling

When it comes to mental health counseling, it is not just for people currently struggling with mental health. It is for people who had any mental health issue at any time.

If you are finding it hard to deal with stress, you have problems in relationship or anything that disturbs your mind, you can gain from mental health counseling.

Here are some benefits of mental health counseling:

Better communication and interpersonal skills

A number of people who are going through difficult phases of their lives do not know how to scale through. And one of the reasons why it keeps getting difficult for them is because they have not sought help in the right place.

With mental health counseling, it would be easy for you to communicate better and understand why you are unable to surmount any challenge.

Also, your interpersonal skills improves with mental health counseling as the counselor teaches you various life skills that would come in handy.

Improved self-esteem and self-acceptance

Several people who have mental health problems are struggling with accepting themselves. Most of them have self-esteem issues as their confidence has gone down the drain. For you to feel better about yourself and have a positive self-image, you need mental health counseling.

Mental health counseling helps to address any problem you are battling with. And when it is resolved, you will feel good about yourself.

Better decision-making skills

With mental health counseling, you are equipped with good decision-making skills. Moving forward, you will be able to decide what is good for you that will not damage your mental health.

Relief from mental health problems

If you have mental health problems like anxiety, depression, ADHD and the likes, you need mental health counseling. Mental health counseling helps you address these problems and ensures you have your mental health is in a good state.

Asides the points mentioned in this piece, it is expedient to note that mental health counseling comes with a truckload of benefits. Hence, from time to time, it is advised to book a session with a mental health counselor.

UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC CONCEPT OF MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

A good number of people have mental health problems, but they do not know that it exists within them. Mental health problems is also referred to as a broad range of mental health conditions, and these are disorders that disrupts thoughts pattern, behaviors and mood.

Examples of common mental health problems include: Anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, eating disorders and the likes.

People could also have mental health issues from time to time, and it becomes a mental illness when the signs are ongoing. The signs and symptoms can cause regular stress and it could impair the ability to function.  

The presence of mental health problems can induce misery and problems in your day-to-day life. This could be in relationships, work and the likes.

In a good number of cases, the symptoms could be managed with the integration of psychotherapy which is also talk therapy, and a combination of medications.

The symptoms and signs of mental health problems vary, and it depends on the circumstances, disorders and other factors. Someone who has mental health problems would have the feelings of being sad and dejected on a regular basis.

In addition to this, the individual would have confused thoughts and the ability to concentrate would be reduced. There is also a tendency for excessive worries and feelings of guilt to set in.

A good number of times, the symptoms of a mental health problem could show up like a physical problem, and this could be headaches, back pain, stomach pain and the likes.  There would also be some aches and pains that you would be unable to explain.

If there are signs or symptoms of mental health problems, then it is advisable to see a mental health professional. If not, a mental health problem if left untreated. It could also get worse over time and induce serious issues.

If you have a loved one who also has a mental health problem, then it is advisable to reach out to a health professional who can help.

HELPING CHILDREN TO OVERCOME ADDICTION

It has been researched and confirmed that, the number of children who are getting addicted to either drugs or alcohol, are currently on the rise. Not disregarding the fact that there are a good number of reasons for this, the major focus is ensuring that children break free from whatever form of addiction which is holding them down, and they become well-meaning citizens of the society.  

If you have discovered that your child has been battling with addiction, there are some measures you can take to ensure that he or she is on the successful path to recovery.

The following steps listed below are quintessential tips which parents can employ in order to help their children break free from addiction:

  • Relationship strengthening: An individual who is down with addiction needs to be around people who love and care for him. During the addiction phase, it is normal for the addict to shut out people around him, thus causing a strain on the relationship bond existing between him and those around him. For a child, the case is quite similar, as he would be forced to believe that no one understands him. Hence, the need to remain on his own.
  • Positive behaviours encouragement and treatment: It is essential to encourage good behaviours for an addict to imbibe. If there is much premium placed on mistakes, and the inability of the child to make good decisions, it implies that their confidence would reduce, the same goes for their self-esteem. Hence, it is important that they are given the chance to try out healthy behaviours, take part in healthy activities, and stand up to all challenges.
  • Fix clear cut boundaries: It is important for you to set boundaries for your child. These boundaries would stand for the things you can, and cannot do for your child. They also stand for ways which people would treat you, and you treat them.
  • Make self-care a custom: Self-care is basically the process of ensuring that your needs are a priority, and it is an essential factor which parents need to employ in addicted children. When you make a move to provide for the needs of your child, you could get stressed out. Hence, there is a need for you to rest so that adverse mental and physical health conditions would not stress you out.