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Mental health
What is mental health?
Mental health is an important part of your overall health and well-being. It includes your ability to handle the daily challenges and social interactions of life without too many emotional or behavioural problems.Having good mental health helps us feel connected to our friends, loved ones and community. It helps us live life to the fullest, and cope better in situations where we might feel stressed or angry. Of course, it's quite normal not to feel your best all the time. As with your physical health, you'll have periods of 'good' and 'bad' mental health throughout life.
Mental illness
One in five Australians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime. Mental illness is a general term that refers to a group of illnesses, in the same way that heart disease refers to a group of illnesses affecting the heart.Episodes of a mental illness can come and go in periods throughout people’s lives. Some people experience their illness only once and fully recover. For others, it recurs throughout their lives. Most mental illnesses can be effectively treated.
Read more: What is mental illness?
Depression and anxiety
Depression is a serious disease – far more complex than simply feeling moody or blue. Older people experience similar symptoms to younger people – but these symptoms often go unrecognised, misdiagnosed or poorly treated. For example, symptoms such as loss of sleep, memory, or concentration are mistakenly regarded as being simply age-related.Diagnosis is harder too: older people often feel more comfortable talking about physical complaints than acknowledging depression as anything more than sadness. Also, when depression combines with dementia, there is an added complexity in diagnosis.
Read more: Depression and anxiety
Help for people living with depression and anxiety
Modern treatments for depression can help the person return to more normal feelings and to enjoy life. Treatment depends on each person’s symptoms.If you are experiencing feelings of sadness which have persisted for a long time or which are seriously affecting your life, contact your family doctor or community health centre.
Read more: Help for people living with depression & anxiety
Mental health resources and useful contacts
There is a wealth of information available on mental health. There are also people and organisations that can help you with managing your mental health.Read more: Mental health resources and useful contacts
Prevention and awareness of mental illness
To prevent depression you need to stay active and involved with life, family and friends. Try to maintain your fitness, too - this will keep you in touch with other people and reduce the risk of common health problems. You can also prevent depression by making lifestyle changes, improving your diet, drinking less alcohol and maintaining a healthy weight.Read more: Prevention and awareness of mental illness
Common questions on this topic:
- The person I care for sometimes gets angry and violent. What can I do about this?
- Depression. If it happened once, will it happen again?
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