First and foremost, let's define the term "mental health," because not everyone has heard of it. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, mental health is "our emotional, psychological, and social well-being" and influences what we think, how we feel, and how we act.
It determines a variety of things in our life, including the choices we make, how we handle the stresses in our lives, and the ways that we relate to others.
I believe educating people about mental health is just as important as educating people about physical health. Why? Because they go hand-in-hand. If you're injured or seriously ill, and can't do what you love, you have a good chance of slipping into a depressive episode. If you're strung-out and stressed to the max, you have a good chance of catching whatever bug happens to be floating around (and it'll take longer to get better if you're already sick).
Knowing about mental health is important for another reason, too: having a mental illness does not make a person 'weak' or 'lazy'. Somebody with anxiety may fret and worry, and probably throw up at some point because of their constant fear of something bad happening, but this does not make them 'weaker' than the person who can shrug the same stress off their shoulders.
Somebody with depression may not shower for a week straight, because getting out of bed to even brush their hair is more energy than they have, but this does not make them 'lazier' than the person who jumps out of bed and hops right into the shower.
This makes the person sick and in need of help.
You don't tell someone with the flu "it's all in your head, get over it." That's not how any physical illness works, and that's also not how any mental illness works.
Two important points: a person's actions are not excused due to their mental illness, and nobody is ever responsible for another person's mental health.
The first point is especially important, given what has recently happened (ahem, a white young adult man shooting up a church should not be excused, even if reports show up claiming he had a mental illness).
The second point is important, because ultimately, it is nobody's responsibility but that own person's to take care of themselves, no matter how intimate a relationship somebody may have with that person.
Moving on from long-term mental illnesses, there is something that I equate to the mental version of the flu: burnout.
Think of it as being so strung out, stressed or exhausted, your productivity is practically zero.
You're exhausted, but sleep refuses to come; you forget to eat because you don't feel hungry; you can't concentrate for more than a minute and forget important things; you've had a headache that hasn't left you alone in three days, and you lash out at everyone even though they may be trying to help you.
I've just described six out of the nine symptoms that Psychology Today lists as signs of burnout. The other three symptoms are increased illness, anxiety, and depression.
What do you do about burnout? Just like with the flu, you take several days off to recover. You've pushed your brain to the limit, and now it needs a good long break.
Just like the flu, the best way to cure it is to prevent it.
Self-care can go a long way in preventing burnout, just like it can make managing a mental illness easier. Some types of self-care are: drinking enough water, eating enough and at consistent times, sleeping at consistent times, finding a stress-relieving hobby and making time for it, and leaning on friends and family for social support.
