site maintenance: This is going to take a while. Excuse the mess while we update the website.
You are here: /commentary/mental-health-illness-onsetting-behaviors
Health is normally measured on a positive scale that is based on various parameters. When the level of health goes negative, there is a determination of unhealthiness and different tests measure the factors contributing to this determination. A mental health evaluation is often based on neural structures, cognitive activity, and nervous system interactions. The nervous system connects the brain to other systems such as respiratory, circulatory, and digestive. A healthy brain and nervous system is a good indicator of positive health factors in other biological human systems.
Brains also need specific nutrients to function properly. Mostly carbs and protien that varies in the amounts required based on brain activity. College students need more protein than they would normally need if they were not studying and also need plenty of carbs. A person who is not studying and uses mostly subconcious brain function only needs enough food to complete their daily activities and enough nutrients to get them through a sleep cycle. The assumption is there will be food nearby in the morning.
Food additives like caffeine that cause irritability when overconsumed can lead to mental health instability as the brain begins to change its brain patterns in response to a new context of normal existence. Prolonged irritability can go beyond causing instability to creating a mental health illness that is difficult or time inefficient to treat.
This creates issues with the most current updates to civilization. Self help and basic analysis being recommended for most people before they go see a professional. At a minimum, the person requesting service needs to be aware of some of the vocabulary the professional is using, how it applies to them, and how to decide between various options that a professional might be recommending to fix an issue or problem.
Brain malfunctions can be caused by poor diet, non optimal sleep patterns, adverse social interactions, and physical injury. These causes can lead to disease which is a debated term in mental health due to the way the brain functions and how viruses and bacteria work. The mental health disease would have to affect functions of the brain in the same way other diseases affect various human systems.
Meningitis, for example might qualify as a disease that is caused by an infection. However depression would often be called an affect. The current debate is whether the term mental illness is an appropriate one to use as it went out of popular use, even in medical fields, due to political incorrectness.
Besides irritability, which can be caused by prolonged interactions with someone a person finds annoying such as a co-worker, co-student, or area policy maker; there are various factors that are being studied as leading to mental illness. That is, a decline in health that takes a prolonged period to recover from.
To add some professionalism to the vocabulary, currently accepted terms are mentally affected, mentally instability, mental illness, and mentally challenged or handicapped. The last two terms indicating a disability that may not be readily treatable.
Behaviors can lead to becoming mentally affected and experiencing mental instability. Some of these behaviors include expressing aggression, spying, criticizing constantly, and making comparisons to other people's lives. This creates a dysfunction of understanding that is based on perceptions that may not be representative of of the persons actual mental health measurements and cognitive processing.
Some quick examples include:
With anxiety and depression being the most prevalent causes of a declined mental health status and self help being the first step for professional services, its important to address these issues because most people will manage their own physical and mental health the majority of the time going into the future.
Being aware of behaviors that can lead to mental illness is often part of professional training programs because the workers must remain healthy in order to make it to work regularly and complete their job to specifications. Mental health strategies often include a review of onsetting behaviors, how those behaviors relate to a job role, and the best practices to avoid those behaviors or minimize their effect.
As it relates to the examples:
Maintaining a positive mental health status requires an awareness of behaviors that can decrease health and reduce the ability to process information or interact in a socially acceptable manner.
This is not much different than being aware of how diet, hydration, and rest affect affect physical health. How exercise can help build muscle, and how exhaustion can lead to injury when conducting strenous activities.
Mental health illness can be onset by being targetted and by engaging in behaviors that alter mental pathways on a consistant and ongoing basis. Many people will not visit a nurtitionist or sports injury therapist on a weekly basis unless there is an injury or or concern but requesting a visit during a checkup with explanation of the concerns is usually acceptable. Its important to do a self assessment in order to receive the most optimal mental health services.