Mental Health

"The scary truth is that ordinary human hatred and aggression are far more dangerous than any psychiatric illness."

"Abortion bans can also increase the risk of suicide. Medical exceptions to abortion bans in the US do not provide for psychological risks to life or health. This limitation prevents physicians from providing abortion care even if they have a well-founded fear that their patient will attempt suicide if forced to continue their pregnancy. Federal guidance regarding the provision of emergency medical care does not explicitly mention mental health under emergency medical conditions that may require abortion. In Dr. Drey’s experience, suicide risk is especially pronounced in some of her teenage patients who develop “post-traumatic stress disorder or suicidal ideation as a result of their pregnancies and make plans to commit suicide if they cannot obtain an abortion.” For individuals who have become pregnant as a result of rape, this risk can also be heightened, Dr. Drey explained."

"Even in the most uncertain of times, the role of a manager remains the same: to support your team members. That includes supporting their mental health. The good news is that many of the tools you need to do so are the same ones that make you an effective manager. Be vulnerable. One silver lining of the pandemic is that it is normalizing mental health challenges...the universality of the experience will translate into a decrease in stigma only if people, especially people in power, share their experiences. Being honest about your mental health struggles as a leader opens the door for employees to feel comfortable talking with you about mental health challenges of their own... Model healthy behaviors. Don’t just say you support mental health. Model it so that your team members feel they can prioritize self-care and set boundaries. More often than not, managers are so focused on their team’s well-being and on getting the work done that they forget to take care of themselves. Share that you’re taking a walk in the middle of the day, having a therapy appointment, or prioritizing a staycation (and actually turning off email) so that you don’t burn out... Sharing your own mental health challenges and modeling healthy behavior are two of the most important steps you can take."

"Over 44 million American adults (18.07%), have a mental health condition. The rate of youth experiencing a mental health issue continued rising, and 62% of teens and children with a major depressive episode received no treatment."

"Access to care is improving, but most Americans still have no access to care. The report states that 12.2% (5.3 million) adults with a mental illness remain uninsured, and 56.4% of adults with a mental illness received no treatment. “Over 24 million individuals experiencing a mental health illness are going untreated.” A severe shortage of mental health clinicians is adding to the problem."

"Determining what’s causing these sharp increases is a complicated undertaking. Axelson says “there’s a lot of hypotheses, but there’s no definitive answer.” Still, the quick rise and pervasiveness of social media that’s been concurrent with these upticks in mental health disorders may play a role. At the same time, the amount of exercise most kids are getting daily has been steadily declining as physical education curriculums have been cut across the country. An increase in environmental toxins may also play a role. Axelson says the mental health trends reflected in the data have been showing up in the emergency room, putting strain on the system. “More and more kids are presenting to emergency rooms in crisis, and we’re noticing that trend at our hospital to the point we really needed to design a facility that was specialized.”"

"While the statistics note that some 20% of people are dealing with a mental health issue, “that impact is multiplied by three or four when you’re thinking about the impact on society. For example, if dad is depressed, he might not be going to work. His wife is feeling the effects of that. And so on. It spreads beyond” the person with the mental health problem, so it’s important to think about these figures in context of how they impact society at large."

"What they’ve found is that when access to mental health services is increased, people do take advantage of that, but that shortages of mental health workers remain a big problem. “People can’t get care if they can’t find a child psychiatrist or a team, for example. If they’re struggling with a problem and you can’t find that care,” it almost doesn’t matter whether insurance will cover it."

"Even in the best states, you have a 50-50 chance of getting care if you need it. That’s horrible,” she says, and the numbers highlight a real problem. Maine ranked the best in this measure, but still, 41.5% of adults in the state are not being treated for mental illness. Hawaii ranked the worst with 67.5% of adults going untreated."

"If you think that you’re an animal, that’s a mental health issue, and we need to get you mental health assistance. Some people are going to say, ‘Well, they’re being artistic.’ There’s nothing artistic about mental illness."

"Everyone thinks that the biggest problem in mental health’s depression, anxiety, suicide. Biggest problem in mental health is we’re all pretending we’ve got our shit together. First rule of mental health, no one’s got their shit together, and if everyone knew that no one’s got their shit together, we’d all be in a better place."

"The idea that anxiety, autism or major depression could be transmitted through contact may sound crazy — and it probably is. There's a lot we don't know about the origins of mental illness, but the mechanisms identified so far point in other directions. Nonetheless, we do know that people's emotions can be affected by the emotions of those around them — a phenomenon known as "emotional contagion" — and that specific symptoms of mental disorders, such as binge eating, can sometimes spread among peers."

"People's willingness to interact with someone with a given disorder was best predicted by their belief about the communicability of that disorder, with other beliefs — about, for instance, the disorder's psychological basis and the extent to which an individual can control the symptoms she displays — playing a much smaller role."

"The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n."

"If you have a mental health condition, you're not alone. One in 5 American adults experiences some form of mental illness in any given year. And across the population, 1 in every 25 adults is living with a serious mental health condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or long-term recurring major depression...."

"As with other serious illnesses, mental illness is not your fault or that of the people around you, but widespread misunderstandings about mental illness remain. Many people don't seek treatment or remain unaware that their symptoms could be connected to a mental health condition. People may expect a person with serious mental illness to look visibly different from others, and they may tell someone who doesn't "look ill" to "get over it" through willpower. These misperceptions add to the challenges of living with a mental health condition."

"Every year people overcome the challenges of mental illness to do the things they enjoy. Through developing and following a treatment plan, you can dramatically reduce many of your symptoms. People with mental health conditions can and do pursue higher education, succeed in their careers, make friends and have relationships. Mental illness can slow us down, but we don't need to let it stop us."

"Most people with mental illness are not violent. In fact, people with mental illness are more likely to be the victims of violence. Research on the relationship between mental illness and violence shows that there are certain factors that may increase risks of violence among a small number of individuals with mental illness."

"...guarding yourself against partnerships that want to suck the life out of you not because they share the same value, but because they like the fame you’re getting. So you need to be discerning in terms of working with people... Take care of your own mental health and well being because that is very important... there’s nothing impossible to do except you don’t just have the will to do it."

"Mental health is not for ‘mad people’. It is basically your psychological and emotional wellbeing."

"Self-acceptance is the key to personal growth. By embracing our flaws and limitations, we can develop resilience and a deeper understanding of ourselves, leading to improved mental health and well-being."

"True mental well-being begins with embracing your inner struggles. By acknowledging and addressing these challenges, you pave the way for lasting personal growth and resilience."

"Austerity, inequality and job insecurity are bad for mental health and governments should counteract them if they want to face up to the rising prevalence of mental illness, the UN’s top health envoy has said."

"The prescription of psychotropic drugs to deal with mental illness, particularly antidepressants, has soared across the developed world in the past 20 years."

"The prevalence of conditions such as depression and anxiety have risen more than 40% over the past 30 years."

"As acceptance of mental illness has grown, the number of people seeking treatment has grown exponentially, overwhelming services in many countries. The phenomenon has divided experts into those who see mental illness as a predominantly biological, neurological malfunction, treatable by drugs and therapy, and those who believe it is much more psychosocial, the result of government policies, social atomisation, poverty, inequality and insecurity."

"Different powerful groups within a society characterize social deviance in different ways, so the types of social deviance considered 'mental disorders' are a reflection of the relative influence of different institutions in the community at a particular point in time. In most Western countries the influence of the medical establishment and the high profile of psychiatry within medicine result in a strong tendency to medicalize many forms of social deviance, to label them as mental disorders, and to develop corresponding treatment facilities. However, based on my observations during a dozen years as a practising psychiatrist in China, the medical institutions there are relatively weak - medical care only accounts for 3.2 per cent of GNP - and psychiatry has a very low status within medicine. The influence of medical and psychiatric institutions on the understanding and management of socially deviant behaviours is correspondingly small and the range of available mental health services is quite limited."

"Better a poor man healthy and fit, than a rich man tormented in body. Health and vigor are worth more than gold, a robust body, more than great wealth. No riches are preferable to physical wellbeing, and no joy is greater than a cheerful heart."

"There is evidence of a positive relation between level of activity and mental health. Involvement in physical activity may prevent the onset of mental health problems or may ameliorate such problems before they escalate to levels of clinical relevance. Exercise has been shown to help reduce the effects of insomnia, stress, depression, and chronic illness. It also plays a vital part in improved weight control, body image, and, especially in the case of the elderly population, independence. Physical activity can also provide an alternative to alcohol and substance misuse and may help patients who have mild to moderate depression."