The 5 early warning signs of mental illness are difficulty concentrating, low energy and apathy, extreme mood swings, significant changes in your appetite or sleep and social withdrawal.
When you suffer from mental illness you often have problems with logical thought, memory or the ability to focus and make decisions, which can lead to a drop in performance at work or school.
People with mental illness also often feel numb and or have no energy even after a good nights sleep, or may also have a general sense that nothing matters to them.
Having mental illness can also lead to you experiencing rapid or dramatic shifts in your emotions, like having intense highs also known as euphoria that is followed by severe lows like sadness or hopelessness or even increased anger and irritability.
When you have mental illness you also often have changes in your sleep or appetite like sleeping too much or sleeping too little as well as having major changes in your eating habits, which can lead to unexplained weight fluctuations.
And when you have mental illness, you often will withdraw socially and pull away from other people and have unusual activities like avoiding family or losing interest in enjoyed hobbies that you previously enjoyed.
Other frequent signs of mental illness are unexplained physical ailments like chronic headaches or stomach aches and even a possible increase of substance use as a way of coping with changing emotions.
The amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are areas in the brain that are implicated in the stress response.
Having high activity in the amygdala shows increased activity in brain scans.
Increased and sustained reactivity in the amygdala is characteristic of depression and other mental health diagnosis.
Things that can help prevent mental illness and improve your mental health include.
Being physically active. Exercise reduces feelings of stress and depression and improves your mood.
Getting enough sleep. Sleep affects your mood.
Healthy eating. Good nutrition may help you feel better physically, improve your mood and decrease anxiety and stress.
Common mental disorders and mental illnesses include Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, Schizophrenia, Eating Disorders, PTSD, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Personality Disorders, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), affecting mood, thought, behavior, and emotional regulation.
These conditions can range from persistent sadness (depression) and mood swings (bipolar) to distorted perceptions (psychosis) and difficulty focusing (ADHD).