Check mental health B4Stage4

With serious illnesses, we don’t wait until things are dire to understand and treat them. If symptoms of diabetes or heart disease appear, if blood pressure gets too high or a cough won’t go away, we seek information and medical attention. We know better than to ignore it, waiting until “Stage 4” – the final and often most dangerous phase of illness – to take action. Better still, we focus on prevention by improving and maintaining good physical health.

With a clear mind-body connection, why limit that? This year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Month is “B4Stage4: Changing the way we think about mental health.” According to Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Health Association), one in five American adults has a diagnosable mental health condition. Half of Americans will have one in their lifetime, and — here’s the point of emphasis — half of those (or 25 percent of Americans) will show symptoms by age 14.

What symptoms? With hundreds of different conditions symptoms obviously vary, but MHA offers a description of stages, to give individuals and their loved ones an idea of when to take things seriously and investigate further:

Stage 1 – Mild symptoms and warning signs: At first a person begins to show or feel symptoms of a mental health condition, but still functions at home, work or school—although perhaps not as easily as before. Often there is a sense that something is “not right.”

Stage 2 – Symptoms more frequent and interfere with life: At Stage 2 it becomes obvious that something’s wrong. Symptoms may become stronger and last longer, or new symptoms appear, creating a snowball effect. Performance at work, home, or school becomes more difficult, as well as keeping up with family duties, social obligations, or personal responsibilities.

Stage 3 – Relapses, recurring episodes, and serious life disruption: Now symptoms have further increased in severity, and many are taking place at the same time. A person may feel as though they are losing control of life in every arena.

Stage 4 – Symptoms are persistent and jeopardize life: By Stage 4, the combination of extreme, prolonged and persistent symptoms and impairment often results in development of other health conditions and has the potential to turn into a crisis event such as unemployment, hospitalization, homelessness, or even incarceration. In the worst cases, untreated mental illnesses can lead to loss of life an average of 25 years prematurely.

If concern is for yourself, one way to see if you may be experiencing symptoms is to take a confidential screening at Mhascreening.org, which considers relatively more common conditions such as anxiety, depression, mood disorders or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. MHA recommends using screening results to start a conversation with your primary care provider, or a responsible loved one.

Screening or no, people may not at first recognize signs, or may feel ashamed of them. To live up to our potential, we all need help of some form at various times in life. There is never shame in that; it is simply part of being human. It is thus incumbent on all of us to watch out for one another with compassion, and extend a nonjudgmental hand when another person has difficulty reaching out.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at [email protected].