Unsure if you or someone close to you is doing well mentally? Learn about the top six warning signs you may need mental health treatment.
Mental health illnesses are the most prominent type of health condition in the United States. According to the CDC, approximately 1 in 5 Americans will experience a mental illness in a given year, and 50% of people will have a mental health condition at some point in their life. Luckily, most mental health issues are treatable, either with therapy, medication or a combination of the two. Recognizing when you’re suffering from a mental health issue can help you seek help to get better. If you’re concerned you may be suffering from a mental health condition, check if you have the top six signs you need to go to a mental hospital.
Top 6 Signs You May Need Mental Health Treatment
Knowing the top signs of a mental health problem can help you identify these issues in yourself or others. Here are the top six signs to watch out for:
1. Difficulty Coping With Everyday Life
Everyone has hard days sometimes. But a stretch of “hard days” that has lasted weeks or even months without a break should be of concern. If you wake up dreading every day and can’t find anything good in your work or relationships, it’s time to talk to someone.
2. Extreme Anxiety
Most people experience some form of anxiety throughout their life. After all, life is challenging and comes with stress from kids, work problems and health scares. Still, anxiety shouldn’t feel so overwhelming that it prevents you from living a normal life. If you’re suffering from extreme anxiety, you might have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are common, impacting over 40 million adults in the United States.
Some signs of extreme anxiety are:
- Constant feelings of worry and fear
- Avoiding people or places
- Thinking situations or people are threatening (even if nothing is suggesting this)
- Inability to let go of fears, worry and tension
- Never feeling relaxed
- Constant restlessness
- Inability to sleep
- Unable to handle uncertainty
- Always considering the worst-case scenario for every situation
- Physical symptoms such as muscle tension, irritability and being “twitchy” and easily startled
Don’t ignore anxiety, as it typically won’t resolve itself. Seeking professional help can help, as anxiety is treatable with prescription medication and therapy.
3. Depression or Suicidal Ideation
Depression is a serious mental health condition that can leave people feeling unhappy, discontent and unable to see the joy in life. In its more severe forms, depression can cause someone to stop leaving the house and taking care of themselves, potentially leading to suicidal thoughts.
It’s important to understand that depression is more than just sadness and can result from psychological, social and biological factors. Depression impacts an estimated 5% of people, but treatment is possible. If you believe you have even a mild case of depression, it’s important to speak to someone.
4. Mood Swings
One of the most common signs of a mental health illness is sudden mood swings. Most people can control their emotions. However, someone frequently displaying mood swings that often turn to feelings of extreme anger or irritability may have an underlying condition. Everyone loses their temper sometimes, but a pattern of mood swings, anger and irritability can be signs of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, substance abuse and other mental health illnesses.
Individuals with mood swings should consider getting evaluated, as anger can have negative consequences. The long-term impact of uncontrolled anger can include increased anxiety, frequent headaches and high blood pressure. Talking to someone about these feelings can help reduce these physical symptoms and improve your mood overall. Additionally, it will help your relationship with others, as it can be taxing for friends and family to be around someone whose mood is unpredictable.
5. Inability To Move On From Trauma
A traumatic event can be life-changing. But, we all must move on from trauma and find ways to cope to live healthy, happy lives. Someone focused on a traumatic experience and talking about it nonstop may be in a toxic loop of reliving their trauma over and over. This usually happens because they haven’t processed their trauma and may be experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A therapist can help you can acknowledge, address and move on from trauma to live a complete and enjoyable life.
6. Coping With Substances
Mental health conditions and substance abuse go hand-in-hand and are known as co-occurring disorders. Almost 50% of individuals with serious mental health conditions are also impacted by substance abuse.
Some individuals cope with mental illness, such as depression or anxiety, with substances. However, this is an unhealthy practice that can quickly lead to a substance abuse addiction. Substance abuse has profound emotional, physical and mental consequences. If left untreated, it can cause someone to lose their job or home, damage relationships and result in permanent health problems and can even be fatal.
Addiction is a brain disorder and not the individual’s fault. Luckily, rehabilitation treatment centers help people through their addiction and get on the road to recovery. These facilities also treat co-occurring disorders, so if someone has both a mental health condition and a substance abuse disorder, they can get help for both.
What To Do if You Need Mental Health Treatment—How Restore Can Help
If you’re experiencing any of the warning signs that you need help for a mental health problem, consider seeking professional help. Therapy and prescription drugs (individually or combined) can help you feel better and live a happy, productive life. Should these warnings prove to be more severe, they may indicate signs you need to go to a mental hospital for additional psychiatric care.
At Restore, we believe in giving our patients options for their mental health treatment. We have a variety of programs to choose from, so you can get help according to what best fits your needs. Call us at (877) 594-3566 and let our compassionate team help you. Let today be the day you start putting yourself first again.
