I’d like to take a detour from my series of community service organizations and deal with a situation that seems to come up every Holiday season, Mental Health.
Sylvia Rodriguez
Hola Texas
As we turn on the television sometimes, we are inundated with constant commercials for this drug or that drug or if you see something say something, etc.
How many of us will really interject ourselves in someone’s day-to-day life if they know something is going on?
If you knew someone was suffering?
Would we try to make a difference?
Would we extend our hand?
I typed in the term mental health on Google the results were 3,320,000,000, An obvious problem in our society, social media has been the downfall for people who suffer with mental health issues comparing their lives to others and never quite feeling good enough.
The statistics for individuals that seek mental health counseling is lower than one would expect. There is a still a stigma related to having a diagnosis or seeking treatment.
There are individuals that do not want to be looked at as having a mental health issue or, they simply don’t know how to talk about it.
There may have been things that happened in their life or things that they have witnessed where they don’t want to regurgitate those feelings and emotions.
But for the most part biological factors play a major part with having mental health issues.
Mental health includes are emotional psychological and social wellbeing and affects how we think act and feel and determine how we handle things and our environment.
If you or someone you know is suffering from mental health issues, there are things you can do about it.
Talk to someone.
Connect with others.
Seek professional help if you need it.
Stay positive.
Get physically active.
Get enough sleep.
Develop healthy coping skills.
And this is one of my favorites….
Helping others.
The gift of service helps greatly to alleviate some concerns within us, it also gives us a sense of purpose and that warm fuzzy feeling that we knowing we made it impact in somebody else’s lives.
Drug abuse, alcoholism and other disorders are sometimes a result of untreated mental disorders, additionally unexplained aches and pains are the physical manifestations of mental health conditions.
Some other signs of mental health issues are:
Eating or sleeping too much or too little
Pulling away 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
Smoking, drinking, or using drugs more than usual
Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
Yelling or fighting with family and friends
Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
Having persistent thoughts and memories you can’t get out of your head
Hearing voices or believing things that are not true
Thinking of harming yourself or others
Inability to perform daily tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work or school
There is help available please reach out to these organizations for assistance:
988 Text Line
Text 988 for yourself or a loved one if you are in any type of emotional distress
Crisis Text Line
Text 741741 from anywhere in the USA to text with a trained Crisis Counselor, free 24/7
Girls & Boys Town National Hotline
(800) 448-3000
National Hope line Network
(800) SUICIDE
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
(800) 273-TALK (8255)
National Youth Crisis Hotline
(800) 442-HOPE (4673)
The Trevor Project (LGBTQ suicide help)
(866) 488-7386
Text (202) 304-1200
United Way 211 Press 8 for Mental Health Support
There is always help, is it only a phone call away.
Be a good neighbor, be a good friend and lend an ear when you can.
Remember we can be the change we need to see; we can be the change someone else needs to see, doing the most good creates a domino effect.