How Common Are Mental Health Issues?
According to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), about 42.5 million American adults suffer from some form of mental illness. Only about 46-65 percent with moderate-to-severe impairment are in treatment. Are you one of them and how do you know it’s time to seek treatment? Despite the cultural belief, you do not have to be “mentally ill” or feel “extremely bad” to see a therapist. It’s time to see a therapist when you feel that something is not right, before you experience symptoms of a diagnosable mental illness.
To give a few examples: before major depression there may be a sense of unease, sadness or feelings of emptiness. Before anxiety disorder there may be distress at home, work or school. Before agoraphobia there may be anxiety and fear and sleeplessness. Why do we have to wait until it’s unbearable?
The earlier someone gets help, the easier it is to get through the problem
In the United States there’s a trend of people seeking help only when they have extreme difficulty functioning or have a diagnosable mental illness. I often wonder why do people wait until their suffering is unbearable — until it’s bad, really bad — before they seek therapy? What about the mild distress, the early warning signals — that gut feeling that something is not quite right? Why is less than optimal functioning the default position? If Sunday night is difficult for you because you dread going back to work Monday morning, and you ignore it — you may be missing an important early warning signal.
When to Seek Therapy
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults age 18 and older. As a psychologist, I have seen first-hand the devastating effects of missed early signs — when left unaddressed it can become a missed opportunity to prevent the emergence of full-blown symptoms, potentially leading us to waste years of our lives.
We know when we feel the void, are drinking too much, are eating too much, when we are not having enough sex, when we have a lousy relationship with our spouses or with ourselves, when we have a lousy relationship with our bosses. We know.
- How many people can say that they have fulfilling relationships?
- That their marriage is where they want it to be?
- That their relationship with their children is where they want it to be?
- That the quality of their relationship with their body is fine?
- That their career is where they want it to be?
- That their quality of their sleep is fine?
- The quality of their sex life is fine?
Anyone who is struggling with one of these may be experiencing early warning signals about their mental health. They may be why we engage in unhealthy coping mechanisms such as alcohol, sleeping pills and addictive and compulsive behaviors. We do all of this in the service of suppressing inner discomfort. As a result, we may lose the treatability phase and enter into the hard-to-treat phase.
Other Ways to Take Care of Your Mental Health
We encourage people to go to the gym, to take vitamins, and to brush their teeth because we know tooth decay will occur if we don’t. So why not take care of our mental health? We have markers for many physical diseases, such as bloodwork abnormalities. However, we often have no such concrete warning signs in mental health. The trick is to notice the early and sometimes subtle cues in the life course of any “disorder” and intervene in the process before symptoms become full-fledged.
What is it about mental health in our culture that has us waiting until after we develop symptoms to see a therapist? Are we ashamed of our inner life — of these early warning signals of unease, dissatisfaction, sadness — in a culture in which are expected to be to be supermen, to figure it out on our own through self-determination? The truth is that we all experience these feelings — it’s a statistically normal event — it’s a way to pursue a better quality of life.
One of the most important goals of therapy is to help a person become a unique, autonomous self. Therapy can inspire and guide people to be their best, not to be their passive submissive worst. Therapy can be used to make good lives great and to help us live more fully.
My recommendation is to focus on your personal well-being. Anyone who does not feel that they are on a track to well being should collaborate with a mental health professional. This is not “psychiatric care.” Everyone experiences unease and sadness in their life and most everyone at some point can benefit from care. And, there is nothing wrong with that.
Dr. Judith Zackson is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Greenwich and New York City. She works with clients of all ages who are dealing with anxiety, depression, relationship and parenting issues and problems with self destructive behaviors, body image and eating disorders. She lives in Greenwich with her husband and two children.
