Mental Health Reflection

750 Words3 Pages
After listening to the presentation by the Kelly Center Representative, Will Stutterheim, I found myself feeling a mix of both positive and negative emotions. I felt saddened from learning that severe mental health issues affect 6 in 10 women and 4 in ten men, though these numbers could be more equal since men are less likely to admit their emotional ailments. I also felt disappointed because our society has made it that way. Often these issues are over looked, down-played, or even laughed at. But it is a very real threat that is causing real damage to people of all ages and walks of life. In truth, though, we are even more prone to these conditions at our age due to the onset of increased stress from work, school, social, and other stressors…show more content…
I know that there are local options, such as the High Plains Mental Health Institute, but those options can be expensive. I learned that there are four stages in the mental health continuum. Namely they are 1. Healthy, 2. Reacting, 3. Injured, and 4. Ill. While we all want to be in the first section, properly functioning with normal mood fluctuations, we are bound to find ourselves in the Reacting stage from time to time. In that stage we are more irritable and distracted than normal, in a bit of a down mood. Somewhere between the “Reacting” stage and the third “Injured” stage; where we see significant functional impairment presenting as anger, hopeless or worthlessness, decreased performance and trouble eating and sleeping regularly; we are encouraged to seek a mental health care…show more content…
Depression, anxiety, and drug and alcohol abuse affect half of the world’s population, and with population stress rising that number is only getting higher as population until we do something about it. It starts at the local level by offering aid in supporting your friends and family, then works its way up the chain through churches and schools like the ones we are lucky to have supporting our area, and with our determination and perseverance we can see to it that the same level of support and accommodation be applied at the state and national level to the basic human need of mental health and
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