Mental health is a state of complete well being, and in order to maintain it, we have to put in efforts. There are various ways to improve mental health and similarly there are warning signs of deteriorating mental health too.
Mental health illnesses/Psychiatric disorders do not occur abruptly in any person, there are anticipating signs in his/her behavior or functioning level, we as family members or friends may fail to acknowledge these signs due to various reasons including lack of awareness.
Let us try to understand few of these signs of deteriorating mental health or mental illness. We need to know that not all of the below mentioned signs should be present in one person or not all these signs are of any one particular illness. These are general signs of a combination of many psychiatric disorders; they can be warning signs of an anticipatory illness if they are persistent and pervasively occurring for few weeks consistently. Before analyzing these signs in a family member or ourselves, we must keep in mind the original temperament and pattern of that individual in order to be sure about these comparative changes
Sleep Disturbances
Difficulty in falling asleep, remaining asleep or early awakening can be signs of insomnia; these changes should be paid attention. There can be instances of excessive sleepiness or drowsiness which also can be a warning signs along with others.
Changes in appetite
It can be noted in the form of, not feeling hungry or over eating, eating pattern being erratic, binging or inducing the food out.
Increased or decreased sexual drive
Certain mental health condition can impact the sexual drive, it can cause changes in the usual pattern and the person can either feel increased drive or reduced drive. This can impact marital/ romantic relationships.
Routine disturbances
Not being able to indulge in daily tasks, reduced self care, and unpredictable sleep wake cycle. For example: One of my patient a young girl, she was facing difficulty in managing her self-care tasks, even getting up from the bed and brushing her teeth felt like a mission to her, forget about attending school, post evaluation it was found out that she was experiencing many other signs indicating clinical depression.
Mood disturbances
Persisting changes in the mood which weren’t there before, like being low, euphoric, angry or anxious. These mood state can be visible changes to anybody be it family, friends or colleagues. Think about a child who has a chirpy, happy go lucky kind of nature and from past two weeks she is predominantly cranky and cries easily, this should not be ignored, in this case the family and school should evaluate any signs of stressors or any unfavorable event. These mood changes can be signs of deteriorating mental health.
Distorted or Disturbed thinking process
This is a vital component of our functioning. All of us have a set pattern of thinking and we can have predictable moves. Disturbances in thinking process can lead to changes in our decision making abilities, communication pattern, logical reasoning etc. Distorted/ disturbed thinking can be jumping to conclusions without checking facts, having a deluded thought process, being suspicious without evidence, being away from reality, having intrusive thoughts, developing phobic thoughts around certain stimulus. For example: From past one month a CEO of a big company remains vigilant, is fidgety and takes excessive time in cracking deals or meeting deadlines, because this was unusual of him, his subordinates noticed it and after detailed evaluation was found out that he was having subclinical anxiety.
Remaining in a shell
Imagine someone who used to be an outgoing fun loving person, who loved spending time with friends and from past few weeks they start remaining aloof, avoiding people, avoiding conversations, these signs can indicate a trauma and psychological depression especially in young children and teenagers.
Behavior changes
These can be very evidently seen, when we compare a person’s usual behavior (usual temperament) to the new changed behavior. We should watch out for increased aggressive tendencies, assaultive behavior, wandering away, excessive drug or alcohol use, frequent crying spells, being absent minded, muttering or smiling to self, excessive re-checking/repetition of things or extreme over religiosity. These can correspond to different symptoms of mental disorders and a sign of deteriorating mental health.
Reduced Attention or Memory issues
Stress can lead to reduced focus and clouding our memory functions. This can be characterized by, fleeting attention, indulging in day dreaming, taking increased time in calculations or similar work.
Overall dip in performance
Overall if we look at all these above mentioned signs, they can gradually lead to a much bigger umbrella of signs and symptoms i.e., procrastinating work, noticing an overall dip in the individual’s performance, which can be it at professional, personal or social level.
What to do after noticing these signs of deteriorating mental health?
After noticing there signs for a fair period of time, we should take help from a mental health professional who can further assess and evaluate in order to reach to a concrete impression and to provide necessary help. All individuals can experience these sign differently and subjectively, but help is available in any case.
If you are in India you may seek help through:
https://www.thelivelovelaughfoundation.org/find-help/therapist
https://nimhans.ac.in/pssmhs-helpline/
http://www.aasra.info/helpline.html
If you are in the United States you may seek help through:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl
If you are in United Kingdom you may seek help through: