Most of the time an average mother thinks a child acting up is due to drugs or a mental illness, witchcraft, or spiritual powers. This is quite absurd because if we put our efforts into observing the child’s character, we should be able to pick out some tangible symptoms that would bring useful information but No, A typical parent wants to blame it on their old family members which is why we are having this conversation today.
What is mental Illness ??
A mental illness is a disease that causes mild to severe disturbances in thought or behavior, resulting in an inability to cope with life’s ordinary demands and routines. Mind you, we live in a world where people generalize mental illness and mental health, once I can differentiate them on here, then you can have a better understanding and act all “I know it all” to your friends lol. Your mental health is a phrase used for everything regarding your health mentally, your mental health doesn’t have to be negative you can be okay mentally (your mental health is okay) but when Mental illness becomes involved, there is trouble and when it’s not identified that’s a bigger problem. There are more than 200 classified forms of mental illness. Some of the more common disorders are: clinical depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders. Symptoms may include changes in mood, personality, personal habits and/or social withdrawal. Mental illnesses may be caused by a reaction to environmental stresses, genetic factors, biochemical imbalances, or a combination of these. With proper care and treatment many individuals learn to cope or recover from a mental illness or emotional disorder if Identified on time.
So I am going to be telling you few of the symptoms because a lot of times the symptoms are in our faces but we are too caught up thinking it is just a bad mood or probably an inability to sleep cause of the bad mood even though these symptoms happens frequently. The most common symptoms
- Confused thinking
- Prolonged depression (sadness or irritability)
- Feelings of extreme highs and lows
- Excessive fears, worries and anxieties
- Social withdrawal
- Dramatic changes in eating or sleeping habits
- Strong feelings of anger
- Strange thoughts (delusions)
- Seeing or hearing things that aren’t there (hallucinations)
- Growing inability to cope with daily problems and activities
- Suicidal thoughts
- Numerous unexplained physical ailments
- Substance use
As humans once in a while, these random thoughts play with your mind and a lot of people just say God Forbid and move on but when it pops up more often, you have to pay attention to the patterns and intensity of the thoughts. In other to get help, you must admit that you need help so if you discover as little as 3 symptoms from the above talk to a doctor, see a therapist, talk to people around. Sickness can never be embarrassing, so cry for help even if it’s someone close or around you, cry for help,You don’t want to lose yourself or your friend to mental health because it’s draining both emotionally and physically.
So before you start blaming irrelevant things or people for a person acting in a certain way or losing Interest in their daily activities why don’t you see a doctor, talk to a friend or a therapist because during your period of uncertainty you are putting the child/person through a lot and a problem easily recognized is easier to solve. So dear people and friends, pay attention to the people around because every sickness isn’t Fever. As the saying goes, HEALTH IS WEALTH.
