Five Benefits of Learning about Mental Health

Mental health is a term used in reference to a person's emotional and psychological well-being. Mental health problems may include serious depression, anxiety, hallucinations, violent behavior or suicidal thoughts. A person with a serious mental health problem is unable to cope adequately with life and cannot be coaxed into 'snapping out of it'.

Approximately 60 million people in the United States experience mental health problems each year. One in seventeen lives with serious mental health conditions and less than a third seek treatment. Here are five reasons why you should learn about mental health.

The first step in fighting mental illness is education. Mental health problems, as stated above, are common. If you learn about symptoms and warning signs and familiarize yourself with different diagnoses and treatments you will be better able to cope with any mental health issues that arise in your life or in the lives of those people you care about. Early identification is the key to recovery. Mental health treatment can involve a combination of medication and therapy. Diet, exercise, sleep and social support also plays a role in recovery. Being able to recognize the symptoms of various mental health problems is crucial in the early identification and subsequent treatment of any mental health problem.

Mental health awareness and subsequent treatment reduces medical costs. Numerous studies have shown that when people seek mental health care, their use of medical services declines. People with untreated mental health problems visit a medical doctor twice as often as people who receive care for their mental health problems.

Untreated mental health issues negatively affect one's overall health. Excessive anxiety and stress can greatly contribute to physical problems including, high blood pressure, heart disease and ulcers. Living under the strain of anxiety and stress can also weaken the immune system - making people much more vulnerable to all types of physical ailments ranging from the common cold to cancer. Improving your understanding of mental illness is the most effective way of battling stigma towards those who have been diagnosed with a mental health condition. Mental illness can be very hard for some people to understand which can very easily lead to prejudice and discrimination. People who have friends or family members with mental illnesses benefit from learning about mental health because it helps them to understand the causes of the problem and the suitable treatment options available.

Just as people can have physical problems, so can they have mental health problems. It is very important that we as a society accept this fact and teach our children from a young age that not feeling well psychologically or emotionally is 'OK' and that there is help available. Mental illness is a part of life as millions of people are affected each year. Education is the key to bringing mental health issues out of the shadows. De-stigmatizing mental health problems will help those who suffer from emotional and psychological problems in getting the help they need so that they can lead healthy and happy lives.

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Weight Loss - The Mental Process

When you go on a diet and decide you want to lose some weight, most people think "I'll stop eating so much, maybe do a bit of exercise and be my ideal weight in just a few days". Sadly, these people end up disappointed and usually heavier than when they started.

Dieting is not just a physical process but a mental one too.

If you do not have the mental processes right then your diet will be a struggle and possibly fail. By having the right mental approach and being in control of your brain you can turbo charge your way to your ideal weight.

So how do you get in control of your brain then?

Before I reveal that, you need to know that you are made up of two parts.

You have your conscious mind, which is your ego - the part that chatters on all day.

Then you have your sub-conscious, which is the part that grows your hair, your nails, pumps blood around your body and so on.

This is a very powerful thing to know, because most people fail in their diets because they do not have the sub-conscious mind working with them, and so it sabotages their efforts.

Consciously you want to lose weight, but sub-consciously you enjoy the extra weight for various reasons, e.g. security, lack of attention from the opposite sex, etc.

The first step in making any change is awareness. This means you become aware of the way your brain works and how you think about yourself and weight loss.

For example, lots of people will say, "I'm struggling to lose weight" or "I hate dieting" or something along those lines.

The words you use program your sub-conscious mind. When you say things like this you are giving a strong message to your subconscious mind which takes it all on board.

The same if you say, "Why can't I lose weight?" or "Why am I always eating so much?" or anything like this your sub-conscious mind will give you the answers and tell you why! And how will that make you feel - not so good I imagine!

Being in control of your mind means being in control of what it says to you - it doesn't operate on its own doing what it wants, it operates in a pattern that it has learnt over the years from you. And the nice thing is, this habit - you can change it!

So the first step is to become aware of what you say to yourself when you talk about your dieting and weight. What do you say? Think about this now ...

Is it positive and encouraging? Or is it not?

Over the next week, listen to how you talk to yourself about your weight, your appearance and your diet.

Now you are more aware of what you are saying to yourself about dieting and losing weight, you can start to reprogram yourself and get rid of those patterns.

When you hear yourself say something that is discouraging or negative about yourself stop yourself immediately and change it into something positive and encouraging - something that makes you feel good.

When you start doing this you will soon notice that your diet becomes so much easier and the weight disappears!

11 Points for Mental Health Care Reform

Due to greater understanding of how many Americans live with mental illnesses and addiction disorders and how expensive the total healthcare expenditures are for this group, we have reached a critical tipping point when it comes to healthcare reform. We understand the importance of treating the healthcare needs of individuals with serious mental illnesses and responding to the behavioral healthcare needs of all Americans. This is creating a series of exciting opportunities for the behavioral health community and a series of unprecedented challenges Mental health organizations across the U.S. are determined to provide expertise and leadership that supports member organizations, federal agencies, states, health plans, and consumer groups in ensuring that the key issues facing persons with mental health and substance use disorders are properly addressed and integrated into healthcare reform.

In anticipation of parity and mental healthcare reform legislation, the many national and community mental health organizations have been thinking, meeting and writing for well over a year. Their work continues and their outputs guide those organizations lobbying for government healthcare reform. .

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE DELIVERY

1. Mental Health/Substance Use Health Provider Capacity Building: Community mental health and substance use treatment organizations, group practices, and individual clinicians will need to improve their ability to provide measurable, high-performing, prevention, early intervention, recovery and wellness oriented services and supports.

2. Person-Centered Healthcare Homes: There will be much greater demand for integrating mental health and substance use clinicians into primary care practices and primary care providers into mental health and substance use treatment organizations, using emerging and best practice clinical models and robust linkages between primary care and specialty behavioral healthcare.

3. Peer Counselors and Consumer Operated Services: We will see expansion of consumer-operated services and integration of peers into the mental health and substance use workforce and service array, underscoring the critical role these efforts play in supporting the recovery and wellness of persons with mental health and substance use disorders.

4. Mental Health Clinic Guidelines: The pace of development and dissemination of mental health and substance use clinical guidelines and clinical tools will increase with support from the new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and other research and implementation efforts. Of course, part of this initiative includes helping mental illness patients find a mental health clinic nearby.

MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

5. Medicaid Expansion and Health Insurance Exchanges: States will need to undertake major change processes to improve the quality and value of mental health and substance use services at parity as they redesign their Medicaid systems to prepare for expansion and design Health Insurance Exchanges. Provider organizations will need to be able to work with new Medicaid designs and contract with and bill services through the Exchanges.

6. Employer-Sponsored Health Plans and Parity: Employers and benefits managers will need to redefine how to use behavioral health services to address absenteeism and presenteeism and develop a more resilient and productive workforce. Provider organizations will need to tailor their service offerings to meet employer needs and work with their contracting and billing systems.

7. Accountable Care Organizations and Health Plan Redesign: Payers will encourage and in some cases mandate the development of new management structures that support healthcare reform including Accountable Care Organizations and health plan redesign, providing guidance on how mental health and substance use should be included to improve quality and better manage total healthcare expenditures. Provider organizations should take part in and become owners of ACOs that develop in their communities.

MENTAL HEALTHCARE INFRASTRUCTURE

8. Quality Improvement for Mental Healthcare: Organizations including the National Quality Forum will accelerate the development of a national quality improvement strategy that contains mental health and substance use performance measures that will be used to improve delivery of mental health and substance use services, patient health outcomes, and population health and manage costs. Provider organizations will need to develop the infrastructure to operate within this framework.

9. Health Information Technology: Federal and state HIT initiatives need to reflect the importance of mental health and substance use services and include mental health and substance use providers and data requirements in funding, design work, and infrastructure development. Provider organizations will need to be able to implement electronic health records and patient registries and connect these systems to community health information networks and health information exchanges.

10. Healthcare Payment Reform: Payers and health plans will need to design and implement new payment mechanisms including case rates and capitation that contain value-based purchasing and value-based insurance design strategies that are appropriate for persons with mental health and substance use disorders. Providers will need to adapt their practice management and billing systems and work processes in order to work with these new mechanisms.

11. Workforce Development: Major efforts including work of the new Workforce Advisory Committee will be needed to develop a national workforce strategy to meet the needs of persons with mental health and substance use disorder including expansion of peer counselors. Provider organizations will need to participate in these efforts and be ready to ramp up their workforce to meet unfolding demand.

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