HOW OVERWHELMING PROBLEMS MANIFEST

Mental health issues are a medical condition just like diabetes, cancer or HIV/Aids. But with the right support and help, symptoms can be relieved and the recovery rate is encouraging. By Lynette Dicey

Having a mental health condition should never be a reason to deprive somebody of their human rights or exclude them from decisions about their own health. Yet all over the world, people with mental health conditions continue to experience a wide range of human rights violations. Many are excluded from community life and discriminated against, while many more cannot access the mental health care they need.

“Fortunately, increasingly wellknown and influential people who are suffering from or have overcome mental illness, are being more open about it, which will go a long way towards debunking myths, negativity, discrimination and judgment,” says Lee Callakoppen, principal officer of Bonitas Medical Fund.

Among the most typical symptoms of mental health issues, he says, are feeling overwhelmed with excessive fears, worries or extreme feelings of guilt; major changes in eating habits resulting in either weight loss or gain; struggling to concentrate and make decisions; loss of energy, motivation and drive changes; constant stress and anxiety over work, finances, life, friends and family; emotional detachment from reality (delusions), paranoia or hallucinations; frequently feeling tearful and having trouble understanding and relating to situations and to people; difficulties sleeping or sleeping more than usual; loss of interest in social activities; becoming easily irritated and more aggressive than usual; and having thoughts of death or suicide.

“Drug or alcohol abuse may also be a sign of underlying mental illness. Sometimes symptoms of a mental health disorder appear as physical problems, such as stomach pain, back pain, headaches or other unexplained aches and pains,” he says.

Somebody with a mental illness can’t be expected to simply “pull themselves together”, he says. “Mental health issues are a medical condition just like diabetes, cancer or HIV/Aids. But with the right support and help, symptoms can be relieved and the recovery rate is encouraging.”

Somebody with a mental illness can’t be expected to simply ‘pull themselves together’