Mental Health Conditions Are Normal
Anyone can have a mental health condition. In 2013, a long-term study of illnesses found that mental health disorders were responsible for 21% of total years lived with disability worldwide.
Major depressive disorder was one of the top ten biggest contributors to years lived with disability for all 188 countries that participated. Overall it's the second-leading cause of disability in the world, beaten only by lower-back pain. This makes depression the world's most common mental illness, followed by anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
One study found that half of the respondents felt they had poor mental health. However only a quarter of those people seek help, according to a mental health charity in the city. The stigma around mental health seems to be particularly strong in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific regions. According to the World Health Organization, more than half of the world's suicides occur in those areas, and treatment rates are lower.
There are two general types of mental health disorders, neurotic and psychotic. Neurotic symptoms are unhealthy versions of normal emotions like depression or anxiety. They are now more often called 'common mental health problems.'
Psychotic symptoms are less common, and affect people's ability to accurately perceive reality. They include seeing and hearing things that are not real, or believing something that is not true. While treatments for these types of illnesses have been limited in the past, simple therapies such as regular aerobic exercise have been shown to help.
The most important thing to remember about mental health problems is that they are not a flaw or a weakness. Stigma is a big problem, because mental illnesses are often easier to treat and recover from if they are dealt with early.
Mental health treatments can range from counseling, to different forms of therapy or medication. Everyone is different, and it usually takes time and patience to figure out the best treatment option for each person. But in all cases it's vital that the person receives support and understanding from their family and friends.
If society wants to treat mental health issues, it first has to normalize them.
