Did you know that the month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month? Today marks the third day of Mental Health Awareness. So, Lets talk about it.

What is Mental Health?

Mental Health involves our emotions, thoughts and well-being. It plays a huge part in our day to day life. It also determines how we handle stress, relationships and our everyday task. When something goes wrong with our mental health, it causes us to function differently then how we normally do and it can interfere with our daily life. 1 out of 5 adults experience some form of mental illness.

How many people are affected by mental illness?

Mental Illness has been overlooked for decades. About 46.6 million adults are affected with a mental illness and 74.5 million children are diagnosed with a mental illness. 1/3 of population that are diagnosed don’t seek professional help. That could lead to homelessness, self-harm or harm to others and suicide. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death. Those who die from suicide show some form of mental illness. About 18-22 veterans die each day from suicide. 41% of prisoners deal with a mental illness or have some sort of mental history. People who live in poverty have the highest rates of mental illness and are affected the most due to traumatic events, lack of access to treatments, and living conditions. You may know someone who has a mental illness and might not be aware of it because they feel too ashamed to share. Mental illness rates are on the rise and people aren’t seeking treatment. Reason being is the stigma that surrounds mental health.

I myself am still learning everyday about mental health. I research what causes mental illness, the type of mental illnesses, how we can treat it, what we can do to prevent it and most importantly, what we can do to end the stigma that surrounds it.

As I started to become interested in learning about mental health and started this journey to ending the stigma, I personally knew someone dearly close to me that suffers/suffered a mental illness and met some beautiful people along the way. They have loving, caring hearts and very compassionate. They are just like you and I, they just need a little extra help to make it through the day.

If I piqued your interest about mental health and maybe you’re asking “what are some types of mental illnesses?”, “How can we treat it?”, “What we can do to prevent it?” Well, we have this whole month to discuss about this topic so stay tune and learn more about it. If you have more information or have any questions about mental health, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section. Let’s bring awareness about mental health in the month of May!