Defining Mental Health

In this section we aim to outline some of the key factors that may be affecting your life or someone you love.
It may help to give you some guidance on what is normal and what is not.
Your General Practitioner is always a great starting option when you think you may need some additional help.

What are the comon mental health concerns

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines mental health “as a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”

What is Stress

Our brains are hard wired to keep us safe. Structures deep inside the most primitive parts of the brain look out for signs of danger, and when they fire up they take charge of the brain (and its blood flow) and put the body in a state of alarm and gear it up to act, to maximize our safety.
This is called the FIGHT/FLIGHT/FREEZE response.
This response system is designed for short term threats that we can run from, fight or avoid.
Unfortunately, many modern day ‘threats’ that can cause anxiety are hard to manage in this way. Things such as financial stress and worrying about what might happen are hard to fight or run from, but our physiological response still kicks in.
An added complication is that our brains have the capacity to think of things in the past or things that might happen and trick the alarm response system into firing up.
The triggers for stresses we face can be sudden or long-term, they can be real or unreal – but the associated feelings that we experience are ALWAYS real.

What is depression?

While we all feel sad, moody or low from time to time, some people experience these feelings intensely, for long periods of time (weeks, months or even years) and sometimes without any identifiable reason or cause. Depression is more than just a low mood – it’s a serious concern that affects a person’s physical and mental health that needs support.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is more than just feeling stressed or worried. While stress and anxious feelings are a common response to a situation where we feel under pressure, they usually pass once the stressful situation has passed, or the stress is removed. Anxiety becomes a concern when these anxious feelings don’t go away – when they’re ongoing and happen without any particular reason or cause. It can become a serious condition that makes it hard to cope with daily life. Everyone feels anxious from time to time, but for someone experiencing anxiety, these feelings aren’t easily controlled.

What is acute stress disorder

It is common to have recurrent thoughts, images, nightmares and memories in the first few days following exposure to a traumatic event, as people process what happened, and seek to move forward. However, unpleasant feelings associated with exposure to trauma sometimes keep coming back along with recurrent images, intrusive thoughts, nightmares or bad dreams. People may feel that it’s all happening again or have brief but vivid memories or “flashbacks”. An acute stress disorder is when symptoms might occur during the month following a traumatic event and then lessen and disappear within a few weeks.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

If the acute stress symptoms persist for several weeks after the event, and cause intense distress and affect everyday life, a specialist may diagnose this condition as PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder. Sometimes there is a delay of months or even years between the event and the onset of PTSD. If acute stress symptoms persist for some time, or become severe, specialist help is needed and a doctor will refer the person to an appropriate specialist mental health professional. It’s important to seek professional help as soon as possible and get an informed diagnosis. PTSD can be misunderstood or over-diagnosed.

This Ted talk its great for anyone to better understand PTSD. And some of todays thinking.

What is POTENTIALLY TRAUMATIC Event (PTE)

These are powerful and upsetting incidents that intrude into daily life. They are usually experiences which are life threatening or pose a significant threat to a person’s physical or psychological wellbeing. An event may have little impact on one person but cause serve distress in another.

Mental health continuum

We all have good days and bad days, it's normal to move along the continuum, but if you (or someone you know) are unable to return to your healthy state, or are struggling
with work, personnel or life in general, please reach out to someone in your support network or to one of the support systems in our external help tab.

The video on the right will help you understand the thinking behind a mental health continuum. You mental health is fluid, it changes as life changes.

Wolf Images from Tatiana Minina

This may have given you some thought that you or someone you know may need some extra support. Click on the appropriate link below to explore what you may be able to do.