Mental Health
What
is mental health?
Mental and behavioral health issues describe a
broad range of mental and emotional conditions.
Blocks to mental and behavioral health can significantly
interfere with the performance of major life activities,
such as learning, thinking, communicating, and
sleeping, among others.
Mental health-related issues
include anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive
disorders and other mental disorders.
How do mental health issues
affect the body and brain?
These disorders
can profoundly disrupt a person's thinking, feeling,
moods, ability to relate to others and capacity
for coping with the demands of life. Problems
with mental health can affect persons of any age,
race, religion, or income. Mental health-related
illnesses are not the result of personal weakness,
lack of character, or poor upbringing.
Mental health-related illnesses
are treatable. Most people with serious illness
need medication to help control symptoms, but
also rely on supportive counseling, self-help
groups, assistance with housing, vocational rehabilitation,
income assistance and other community services
in order to achieve their highest level of recovery.
Here are some important
facts about mental health and recovery:
• Mental health-related illnesses
are biologically based brain disorders.
• Behavioral disorders fall
along a continuum of severity and are the leading
cause of disability (lost years of productive
life) in North America, Europe and, increasingly,
in the world.
• Mental health issues can
strike individuals in the prime of their lives,
often during adolescence and young adulthood.
• Without treatment
the consequences of mental health-related illnesses
for the individual and society are staggering:
Unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance
abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration,
suicide and wasted lives.
• The best treatments for
serious mental and behavioral health-related illnesses
today are highly effective; between 70 and 90
percent of individuals have significant reduction
of symptoms and improved quality of life with
a combination of pharmacological and psychosocial
treatments and supports;
• Stigma erodes confidence
that behavioral and mental disorders are real,
treatable health conditions. We have allowed stigma
and a now unwarranted sense of hopelessness to
put up emotional and financial barriers to effective
treatment and recovery. It is time to take these
barriers down.
Help! I have a loved
one that needs help with his or her mental health-related
illness.
Although a small percentage
of people are able to recover from mental and
behavioral health problems without help, the majority
of individuals suffering from such illnesses need
assistance. With treatment and support, many individuals
are able to rebuild their lives.
Many individuals have approached
their loved one regarding his/her behavioral health,
with no success. It may be helpful, when talking
with your loved one, to have a third party present
that is professionally trained and knowledgeable
about mental and behavioral health and illness.
Addiction Intervention Resources
moves your family out of crisis and assists in
addressing your loved one’s mental or behavioral
health-related illness.
To read more information on our Intervention Programs, Click Here or call our National Call Center 800.561.8158