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If you’re looking to work on your mental health, you’ve come to the right place. Starting with the advice section, you can learn about your mental health condition and gain insight into what you’re struggling with, and begin to learn to cope. Maintaining excellent mental health is hard work, and it starts with learning about yourself in therapy.
NAFS advice section is here to serve as a resource for you when you’re learning about different mental illnesses and common life challenges. The advice section is here for you to support you through these mental health concerns, and if you're living with a mental illness,
NAFS want you to know that you’re not alone and that you can find resources here to understand your disorder. There are coping techniques you can explore in these articles, as well as in online counselling. Online therapy is an excellent place to talk about issues with your behaviour that you’re looking to change. You might want to discuss the loss of a loved one, and problems surrounding grief.
Common mental health problems
When it comes to mental health issues, there are some that are common. Here are some mental health problems that many people manage.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are a common form of mental illness. Some include Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Phobias, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Millions of people live with anxiety disorders and receive treatment for them in therapy. Sometimes people with anxiety disorders can benefit from psychiatric medication. You can read more about anxiety disorders in the Anxiety section of advice. Here you’ll learn with coping with being in a state of fight or flight and find ways to deal with being overwhelmed. You can support a loved one who lives with anxiety by reading these articles. Learn about panic attacks and how to calm your body down. You can learn about the fact that anxiety is genuine, and that those with anxiety aren’t exaggerating their symptoms.
Panic Attacks
Panic attacks are severe episodes that seem to come out of nowhere. During a panic attack, the individual experiences a feeling of dread where they’re afraid that something terrible is going to happen. Read about the signs and symptoms of panic attacks and what you can do when you have them.
PTSD
PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a condition where an individual has experienced one or more traumatic episodes. They have flashbacks to their trauma and may suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. In the PTSD section read about the symptoms of PTSD and what you can do to get help for this condition. Learn how to support someone who is suffering from it.
Mood Disorders
Depression
In the depression section, you’ll learn about how depression is a mental illness that is severe and can kill people if it’s untreated. It’s essential to understand that people with depression aren’t lazy. They have a real illness that needs treatment. If you’re struggling with depression, here’s a section where you can find resources to help yourself.
Bipolar Disorder
In the Bipolar Disorder section, you’ll find resources about bipolar disorder and information about the highs and lows of bipolar disorder (depression and mania). People who live with Bipolar Disorder experience manic episodes or hypomanic episodes followed by depressive ones. If you’re living with Bipolar Disorder, you can find information about your illness, and if you love someone with this condition, you can find resources to learn more about what your loved one is experiencing.
Persistent Depressive Disorder
Persistent Depressive Disorder is also known as dysthymia. It’s mild but chronic depression. Some people refer to it as “high functioning depression.” Someone with dysthymia has similar symptoms to an individual with depression, but it’s a less severe case.
SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
SAD is a type of major depression. A person with SAD gets depressed during the late fall, winter and into the early spring months. Someone with SAD is triggered when they don’t have a lot of daylight in their environment.
What Influences Your Mental Health?
When you’re working on your mental health, it’s important to consider what influences it from the outside and the inside. There are outside influences, such as your environment, and there are inside influences such as your genetics and your temperament. Here are some factors that contribute to mental health that you can read about in the advice section.
Behavior
Behavior is an indicator of our mental health. In the behavior section, you’ll learn about behaviors that are productive and ones that are dysfunctional. You can learn how to change your behaviors so that you can get what you want out of life and stop engaging in risky behavior. You’ll learn about mental illnesses that include problematic behaviors as a symptom and how to change.
Anger
Anger can be a symptom of mental illness. Anger is a section where you can read about if you’re struggling with anger problems, some tips that’ll help you manage your anger. You can also look up warning signs that you may have a severe anger issue and how to develop coping strategies. You can look up mental illnesses that have anger as a symptom, and if a loved one is coping with anger issues, you can learn how to support them.
Abuse
When a person is a survivor of abuse, it can severely impact their mental health. Abuse is a widespread issue that many different people experience, and there isn’t just one type. Different kinds of abuse include emotional, sexual, medical, neglect, child abuse, and more. In the abuse category, you’ll read about forms of abuse and what they may entail.
Attachment
Healthy attachments can positively impact a person’s mental health. When we don’t form attachments at a young age, it can contribute to mental health issues or mental illness. Attachment starts at a young age. We learn to form bonds with other human beings as babies, and that skill develops over our lives. In the attachment section you can learn about the different attachment styles, and what problems arise when people develop unhealthy attachment issues.
Bullying
Bullying can have a severe effect on a person’s mental health. It can cause depression and sometimes cause a person to end their life. Bullying is a serious offense where a person torments a person or group of people. In the bullying section, you’ll learn how to decipher if you’re being bullied yourself or if your child is being bullied. You’ll read about how adults can get bullied, and how people of any age can be victims of these crimes.
Love
Part of maintaining excellent mental health is feeling loved. In the love section, you’ll learn about finding love and ways to explore that in your life. You might want to find love or maintain a relationship that you have at the moment. Love is one of the best feelings human beings can experience. Read about how it affects us and what we can do to preserve it.