How can you improve and assess your mental health? If you feel tired all the time, if you feel bored or have sleep problems, you could be suffering some psychiatric disorder or increasing the risk of suffering it.
For this and other reasons I invite you to take the test I will detail in the following paragraphs of the article so you can assess your mental health.
Mental health is defined by some specialists as a state of general well-being that is provided by each person through their actions, which allows to meet the demands of the environment and daily difficulties and, ultimately, gives that ability to deal with life.
Said in a simpler way, it is the absence of disease, which allows you to live, work and love properly.
But measuring a person's mental health has been for years a major challenge for the medical profession.
For this reason, researchers from universities around the world and collaborators from the World Health Organization, WHO, decided to design a test to assess the mental health of a persona, based on the presence or absence of certain symptoms, so to find these, a study with a sample of 400 patients and their relatives in different countries of all continents was made in order to guarantee cultural diversity.
And that is how the test was created. The Test of Symptoms for Detection of Mental Problems in the Adult Population, as it was named, was already published in 1989 in the Psychiatric and Psychological Act of Latin America, as well as in recognized scientific publications worldwide, being translated to different languages.
According to the psychiatrist Carlos Climent, one of its authors, "it is worth clarifying that this valuable test does not provide a diagnosis, but it allows to determine, through simple questions, if a person is at risk of suffering a mental disorder, which has become an indicator of the need to consult the psychiatrist and an aid for professionals in this branch of medicine "
Test to assess your mental health
1. Do you have frequent headaches?
2. Do you have a poor appetite?
3. Do you have problems to sleep?
4. Do you get scared easily?
5. Do you suffer from hand shake?
6. Do you feel nervous or tense constantly?
7. Do you have digestive problems?
8. Are you unable to think clearly?
9. Do you feel sad constantly?
10. Do you cry frequently?
11. Do you have difficulty enjoying your daily activities?
12. Do you have difficulty making decisions?
13. Do you have difficulty to perform well in your job?
14. Are you unable to play a useful role in your life?
15. Have you lost interest in several things?
16. Do you feel bored constantly?
17. Have you had the idea to end your life (kill yourself)?
18. Do you feel tired all the time?
19. Do you feel that someone has tried to hurt you in any way?
20. Are you a much more important person than others think?
21. Have you noticed interference or anything unusual in your thinking?
22. Do you hear voices without knowing where they come from or voices other people can not hear?
23. Have you had seizures or falls to the floor, with arm and leg movements, tongue bites, or loss of consciousness?
24. Have you ever felt your family, your partner, your friends, your doctor or your priest feel you are drinking too much alcohol?
25. Have you ever wanted to stop drinking alcohol but you are not able stop it?
26. Have you ever had difficulties at work or college because of drinking? Have you been absent because of this from academic and work activities?
27. Have you been arrested while drunk?
28. Have you ever thought that you drink too much liquor?
TEST RESULTS
If you answered positively to nine or more questions from number 1 to number 18, you must make an appointment with your psychiatrist, as you may be suffering from a mental disorder and require some treatment.
Take into account also that the more affirmative answers you have the risk is higher.
If you answered yes to at least one of the questions 19 through 28, it is wise to consult the psychiatric services as soon as possible.
How to improve your mental health?
According to specialists, putting into practice the following tips favors your mental health:
- Maintain a positive attitude in any situation. I know it is difficult, but for this reason you should never be alone.
- Avoid reviving or talking about unpleasant situations of the past. Surround yourself with positive people who are not reminding you bad experiences, and keep around people who want to create or live good and positive things with you.
- Abandon fears and false beliefs.
- Always value what you have and do not think about what you lack. A constant thought in the future generates too much anxiety and stress, and to much past generates bad feelings.
- Do not react impulsively to situations. Keep calm and control. Think well before speaking or acting.
- Strengthen personal relationships with your friends, partner and your family. The human being is a social being, he was not made to be alone. Loneliness can cause an absolute degree of despair, anxiety, stress.
- Do not live only to work all the time. Take time to recreate yourself.
- Stay away from alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs or psychoactive substances.
- Avoid psychoactive substances and games of chance (Poker, bridge, blackjack, etc.).
- Eat a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables, unprocessed lean protein sources. Stay away from sausages, stay away from dairy, steer clear of fried foods.
- Exercise regularly to free yourself from stress, to stimulate the secretion of endorphins.
- Submit to a regular medical checkup.