Welcome to the TRN Mental Health hope page. From here you can access the Mental Health chat room and forums, read articles on education or information and up-dates for any Mental Health specific TRN Events.
Mental Health is the balance between all aspects of life - social, physical, spiritual and emotional. It impacts on how we manage our surroundings and make choices in our lives - clearly it is an integral part of our overall health.
Mental Health is far more than the absence of mental illness and has to do with many aspects of our lives including: How we feel about ourselves. How we feel about others. How we are able to meet the demands of life
Maintaining Mental Health involves:
Attention to lifestyle - if we are doing too much or too little in our lives, mental health can suffer. We need a good balance between work or study and leisure pursuits.
Social contact - having contact with others whose company we enjoy, whether at school, work, at home or as a member of a club, helps to develop social interaction.
Reviewing our lives from time to time - this involves considering what our aims and goals in life are and whether we are taking steps to achieve them. Problems can arise when we feel that life is not satisfying and fulfilling.
Awareness of how mind and body interact - just as our state of mental health can affect our physical health, the reverse is also true. If diet, sleep and exercise are neglected and inadequate, not only our bodies will suffer but also our minds.
Having people in our lives we trust - it is important to have someone to go to with our problems and worries, such as friends, teachers or family members.
Awareness of what can go wrong - just be conscious of what can go wrong. Realise that tiredness and irritability, if ignored, might lead to more serious stress - related problems.
Taking steps to resolve problems - be aware of problems and seek help if necessary.
Mental Health and addiction can co-exist by the very nature of addiction being a mental health illness. This page and the contents are to expand on what psychiatrists call dual diagnosis or co-morbid presentations. We are talking about Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Mood affect Disorder, Schizophrenia, Personality Disorders, Anxiety Disorders including OCD, PTSD, and specific Phobias to generalise.
Some alcohol and other substances and behavioural abuse can cause a dual diagnosis; people can become addicted and mentally ill in other ways simultaneously. Alcohol is a depressant and can add to or cause depression, prolonged cannabis use has been known to increase the chances of schizophrenia and other mental health problems, excessive cocaine use stresses the body and mind and can cause paranoia and psychosis.
There are countless hundreds of people who are medicating mental health illnesses without realising it. A drink or drug briefly removes the difficulty in life, but it soon returns needing more of the substance or behaviour. Seeking medical help is essential, but abstinence is major part of the healing process.
