Are you feeling 10/10?: World Mental Health Day

Photo by Kylli Kittus via Unsplash

Editor's note: Updated to reflect resources for professional help.

10 October is World Mental Health Day! At Growing Unicorns, mental health is a huge part of what we do and want you to develop as well!

What is Mental Health?

Mental Health is defined as the well-being of our emotional, psychological and social state. This impacts how we think, feel, act (and react), relate, make decisions and handle stress.

Mental health is important at every stage of an individual's life, and as mentioned in our first article, is a crucial part of an individual's total well-being.

Positive Mental Health

A healthy mind is a key factor for one to enjoy a good quality of life. A positive mental health state would allow one to:

• Realise their full potential
• Cope with stress
• Make and maintain healthy relationships with the people around them
• Make meaningful contributions to their communities and workplaces

Mental Health Problems

Mental health problems can adversely affect thinking, mood and behaviour. They can be influenced by multiple factors, including biological factors (e.g. genes, brain chemistry) and life experiences. Some mental health problems are hereditary, so if you have a family history of such problems, it is good to get yourself checked.

Just like its physical counterpart, mental health problems can vary in severity and are common. It is possible for people to get better from mental health problems or even recover completely.

But how do we know if we're potentially suffering from mental health problems?

Early Warning Signs

A physical illness often has symptoms, or early warning signs, of its existence. Identifying these symptoms early can help get the individual appropriate help to address the illness/problem.

Likewise, mental health problems can present themselves with early warning signs in the individual experiencing them. If you or your loved one experiences one or more of these feelings or behaviours, these can be early warning signs of a potential problem:

• Eating or sleeping too much or too little
• Withdrawing from people and usual activities
• Having low or no energy
• Feeling numb or like nothing matters
• Having unexplained aches and pains
• Feeling helpless or hopeless
• Engaging in destructive activities more than usual e.g. Smoking, drinking, or using drugs
• Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
• Yelling at or fighting with loved ones
• Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
• Having persistent thoughts and memories you can't get out of your head
• Hearing voices, seeing things or believing things that are not true
• Thinking of harming yourself or others
• Inability to perform daily tasks e.g. taking care of your children or getting to work or school

Some of these early warning signs are specific to certain mental health problems. If you find yourself or your loved one(s) experiencing any of the above, you might want to consider seeking professional help.

How to Maintain Positive Mental Health

As with physical health, where possible, prevention is better than cure. There are many ways of maintaining positive mental well-being, and in turn, help to maintain other aspects of your well-being.

Maintaining physical health through physical activity, getting sufficient sleep, drinking enough water and eating a healthy diet contribute significantly to mental well-being.

When faced with adversity and stresses in life, developing healthy coping mechanisms, as well as adopting a positive mindset, can help you to maintain your mental health.

And know that you are not a solo ship in the stormy sea of life! Having close-knit relationships with people whom you can share your problems and joys with is important and a good way to maintain positive mental and social health. Also, there should be no shame in seeking professional help if you need to, like how there should be no shame in seeing a doctor when you feel physically unwell.

Here are some resources for professional help that you can refer to:

Australia: Mental Health Australia

Malaysia: Mindakami

Philippines: PsychReg

Singapore: Beyond The Label by National Council of Social Service

United Kingdom: Mental Health UK

United States of America: National Institute of Mental Health

---

We hope you've learnt a lot about mental health! We will continue to share more tips and information on mental well-being as well as other types of well-being in future content.

So stay tuned, and may the state of your mind be 10/10!