Mental Health Awareness Month – Part Three
- Category: Behavioral Health
- Posted On:
Early Warning Signs of Mental Health Problems
Many individuals suffering from mental illness will not seek treatment until a crisis has occurred.
With 1 in 5 adults experiencing mental health-related issues per year it is important to be aware of early warning signs. Just like with physical illnesses, early intervention is key in reducing severity and the need for more extensive treatment.
These are just a few of the possible mental health early warning signs you or someone you know may be experiencing:
- Eating or sleeping too much or too little
- Low energy
- Lack of desire to engage in daily activities or interact with others
- Unexplained aches and pains
- Feeling angry or irritable
- Feeling helpless or hopeless
- Feeling nervous, anxious or on edge
- Engaging in reckless behavior or using negative coping skills such as and drinking or doing drugs
It’s important to recognize when you are not feeling like yourself. Understanding your emotional baseline, normal behaviors, and general mood will also help you recognize when something is off. We all experience stress, sadness, and nervousness throughout our life but those feelings do not have to become your new normal.
Please do not hesitate to seek treatment if any of these warning signs have lasted longer than 2 weeks or begin to impair your quality of life and daily functioning. You can contact Valley Health Behavioral Health by calling 540-536-4881.
For more information on screening tools and other common warning signs please visit.