Overview
Mental health, or psychological health, encompasses the well-being of mind, body and spirit and contributes to overall health and resilience. Throughout the military community, additional stressors placed on individuals and families adds to the importance of maintaining awareness of internal and external demands on health and of the many resources available to support psychological health.
One way of maintaining good mental health is to observe basic physical and psychological needs such as:
- Getting enough sleep
- Eating right and exercising
- Taking care of basic physical and emotional needs
- Staying connected socially
- Stopping to assess how things are going in life
- Managing the stressors in life
Some signs of distress could include:
- Drinking more heavily than normal
- Agitation or anger
- Withdrawing from families and friends
- Difficulty concentrating
- Sadness or depression
Many of these tips may seem like common sense, but when faced with challenging life situations these things are often the first things that get neglected.
When psychological health is neglected and mental health concerns arise, it is natural to deny there's anything wrong. Sometimes the last person to recognize symptoms is the one who needs help, so it's important to recognize symptoms in friends, loved ones or oneself and to say something.
Some other factors which may affect mental health may be:
Anxiety
Individuals living with anxiety live in a world of "what if?" It's often a world of hypervigilance and worst case scenarios.
Life Stress
Stress comes in two varieties: Good stress and bad stress. Life stress involves all mental burdens that affect an individual.
Sexual Trauma
Sexual trauma is any sexual activity where someone is involved against his or her will -- may have been pressured into sexual activities, may have been unable to consent to sexual activities (for example, when intoxicated), or may have been physically forced into sexual activities.
Spirituality
Different factors can challenge individuals' long held beliefs. In the face of difficulty, many, often for the first time, will give serious consideration to spiritual concerns. Still others find their life experiences strengthen their belief system, whether it has a spiritual component or not.
Work Adjustment
Work environments and requirements vary significantly. Praiseworthy skills in one occupation may be germane or likely counterproductive in another.