There's more to Mental Health than Depression and Anxiety...
Recently mental health has been discussed regularly in the media, with Depression and Anxiety frequently being the topic of conversation. With this in mind you'd think that mental health is not a taboo subject and something that people are now knowledgeable about, right? Wrong.
Mental health issues go beyond those two conditions, what about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Panic Disorder for example. Surely the conversation should be opened up to learn more about other conditions. Too often when people mention that they have an MH problem it is assumed that they have Depression or Anxiety, when they inform that they have a different condition they are asked "What's that?". This is a question that I am sick of hearing. It is time people learned about the other conditions that affect the general public.
Approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK experience a mental health problem each year with only 1 in 6 suffering from the “common” mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. But what about the conditions that the 5 in 6 people suffer from? There needs to be more awareness about those conditions.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder - 5.9 in 100 people
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - 4.4 in 100 people
Depression - 3.3. in 100 people
Phobias - 2.4 in 100 people
OCD - 1.3 in 100 people
As shown in the chart, PTSD is the second most common mental health issue in the UK. Yet the condition is discussed less compared to depression which is the third most common mental health condition. Reports from both England and Wales suggest that approximately 1 in 8 adults with a mental health problem are currently receiving treatment with medication reported as the most common type of treatment. We are being treated with medication but its time for us to raise real awareness and treat each other better with conversation.
Find out more about PTSD by visiting the links below:
Mind - https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/#.WzNhXKdKiUk
NHS - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/
Young Minds - https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/conditions/ptsd/
