Symptoms of Bad Mental Health : The Warning Signs
These days everybody tries to take care of their physical health by having regular checkups, exercising, yoga, meditation and eating a healthy diet. But still there is a significant need to take care of our mental health also. Our body will be healthy if our minds are healthy. When a person suffers from bad mental health it impacts his behaviour, thoughts, emotions and even leads to bad physical health. There is a large population which suffers silently from bad mental health knowing their symptoms. There is a big stigma which is attached to mental health due to which people generally don’t talk about mental health but when someone is aware of their warning signs they should get assistance and begin their recovery process as starting it sooner makes a big difference than keeping it to yourself and getting worse. As nobody will take a step for you unless you want to take it for yourself. Sometimes due to bad mental health you push people away who once loved you as it gets harder for them to stay with you and handle whatever you are going through.
Signs of Bad Mental Health
- Having constant sadness or feeling down for weeks or even months and losing interest in all the activities once you used to love.
- Feeling extremely worried and anxious even when there is no reason and always thinking about something bad is going to happen.
- Having mood swings is a common cause nowadays as everyone is taking stress every second they breathe and they try to relieve it in unhealthy ways which even makes the situation even worse.
- Experiencing sudden anger or irritation over minor matters and having feelings of intense highs and lows.
- Always having negative feelings that nothing good will happen or nothing will improve.
- Feeling worthless or hopelessness in every situation.
- Unable to change bad habits which deteriorates health.
- Always blaming oneself about anything which happens and believing that “I am not good enough”.
- Difficult to concentrate and getting easily distracted as there are thousands of thoughts running in mind at one time.
- Experiencing memory retention issues like skipping deadlines, appointments or forgetting what people say to you.
- Feeling embarrassed on things or assuming that others are judging you and thinking about the worst case possibilities.
- Being in a phase of social withdrawal or trying to seclude oneself. Trying to avoid meeting people or going to any social events or not being able to mingle with people.
- Ignoring neglecting responsibilities or feeling just too worked up to do anything.
- Experiencing impulsive behaviours like having unprotected sex, driving dangerously or spending excessive money which is not needed.
- Involving in alcohol or drugs which are unhealthy.
- Getting involved in bad company which is leading you to take decisions that are not good for you.
- Major changes in daily life like spending time on things which are not worthy of your time.
- Having a bad appetite that is either eating too much or too little.
- Experiencing irregular sleeping cycles like sleeping too much or getting insomnia habits.
- After sleeping for a good amount of time, still feeling tired or fatigued.
- Experiencing sudden pain or aches like muscle tightness, headaches or stomach problems.
- Experiencing sudden weight loss or gain.
- Having miscommunications or arguments without any valid reasons or struggling to keep relationships alive.
- Feeling exhausted with social interactions or getting anti-social as the days pass by.
- Losing the productivity one used to have at work.
- Struggling to complete tasks or experiencing lack of motivation to initiate the work.
- Not feeling the urge to go to work and skipping it more often.
- Performing poorly or getting extremely affected with performance reviews.
Warning Signs
- Taking intoxications of substances which are unhealthy.
- Self-isolating oneself from the crowd.
- Having thoughts of self harm.
- Discussing death very frequently.
- Drastic changes in behaviour.
- Getting episodes of hallucinations or delusions.
- Having suicidal thoughts.
- Having thoughts of violence.
- Being an extreme negative behaviour.
- Trying to push people away.
- Not talking about how you are feeling even when it reflects on your face that you are not in a good place.
- Getting nervous when someone tries to talk about you or how your behaviour has drastically changed.
- Avoiding topics which make you feel anxious.
Dealing with the Symptoms
- Taking help of the people you trust.
- Expressing more about how you are feeling.
- For distractions from bad thoughts try new activities.
- Trying to stay connected with friends and family.
- Joining support groups.
- Consumption of alcohol or drugs should be avoided.
- Limiting screen time and spending more time with nature.
- Trying to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
- Trying new activities which makes you feel good about yourself.
- Trying to maintain a regular sleep cycle.
- Attending events which educate and spread awareness about mental health.
- Eating a healthy diet while avoiding junk food.
- Trying to exercise daily.
- Stress management practices can be done by meditation, yoga or deep breathing.
- Taking walks as a daily routine.
- Maintaining a journal and jotting down your feelings.
- In serious situations getting a professional assistant.
- Taking therapy.
Conclusion
You can have bad mental health and not even know about it or not be able to realise it until someone else detects it and lets you know. Sometimes it’s hard to understand what you are going through and feel helpless to get help also. And in bad times trying to get help from your people is also tough as you are too embarrassed to ask for it. Getting help from one person can give growth to your healing journey and let you feel free from your fears. Try to be more open about what you feel and express yourself in any way you can. It can be by talking, crying, screaming or just by sitting with someone in silence. Bad mental health is a persistent hurdle of daily life and it can make your life harder and harder. As time passes by, try to work on your daily life balance and take one step at a time. Let your loved ones know about your misery and let them help you heal.
