Mental health day

March • Self-injury Awareness Day (Mar. 1) • MHA Hill Day (March 8) • International Grants Professionals Day (Mar. 10) • National Sleep Awareness Week (Mar. 12-18) • World Sleep Day (Mar. 17) • Brain Awareness Week (Mar. 13-19) • National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week (Mar. 20-26) • National LGBT Health Awareness Week (Mar. 20-24) • World Bipolar Day (Mar. 30) October • Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep. 15-Oct. 15) • ADHD Awareness Month • Depression Awareness Month • Breast Cancer Awareness Month • Anniversary of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act • Mental Illness Awareness Week (Oct. 1-7) • National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness (Oct. 3) • National Depression Screening Day (Oct. 5) • OCD Awareness Week (Oct. 8-14) • World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10) • National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11)

World Mental Health Day is on October 10 and as our understanding of mental health grows, we grow along with it. Mental health has come a long way since the early nineties when the World Federation of Mental Health (WFMH) officially established the day. Our self-awareness and sensitivity towards it have changed things for the better. Our language surrounding mental health has improved as words like “crazy” and “lunatic” are used less flippantly and we come to better understand that they can be unintentionally hurtful and stigmatizing. While we’ve learned a lot, there’s still so much more we can do to evolve as a society. History of World Mental Health Day In 1992, the World Federation of Mental Health led by the deputy secretary-general at the time, Richard Hunter, created World Mental Health Day. They didn’t have a precise objective other than to advocate for mental health as a whole. To say the least, it was an uphill climb to change a plethora of bad and dangerous habits that were making a difficult situation worse for people. The world had a host of mental health issues that weren’t properly being treated. There were struggles to gain public funding for treatment in France, inhumane treatment in New Zealand, and an overall ignorance in regards to what mental health actually is. The WFMH knew that they needed to act on a global scale to solve a global crisis. For the first three years, there was a two-hour telecast broadcast across the globe through the U.S. information...

One of my worst depressive episodes happened in 2016. I was going through a huge amount of personal stress. I’d just left a 14-year relationship. I was thinking about how to survive financially and realizing I’d likely have to leave my beloved city of San Francisco behind. I was broke, sad, and scared. And that was before the depression really set in. I found myself struggling to get out of bed. I couldn’t find the energy to walk down the hall to get the mail. I was eating old cans of beans to avoid going to the grocery store. My body felt like it weighed ten tons, and my brain was full of glue: any thought or feeling that managed to get out of it was a sticky, unmanageable mess. But I sure wasn’t going to miss work. Though I had plenty of unused sick days as part of my benefits package, it never occurred to me to stay home. Sick days weren’t for brain troubles. That would be weak. Right? Sick days were for the flu at the very least. Looking back, staying home should have been an obvious decision. But in the moment, I was afraid – would I have to say why I was sick, or in what way? Would I have to defend myself? I just didn’t know. So I tried to keep working as if nothing were wrong, until suddenly I couldn’t: on a Tuesday afternoon, I left the office in tears after staring for hours at a pile of work that I couldn’t begin to manage. It was scary and embarrassing. I took four sick days in a row then, out of sheer necessity, while I climbed out of the darkest part of the pi...

What's the difference between normal mental health and mental disorders? Sometimes the answer is clear, but often the distinction isn't so obvious. For example, if you're afraid of giving a speech in public, does it mean you have a mental health disorder or a run-of-the-mill case of nerves? Or, when does shyness become a case of social phobia? Mental health is the overall wellness of how you think, regulate your feelings and behave. Sometimes people experience a significant disturbance in this mental functioning. A mental disorder may be present when patterns or changes in thinking, feeling or behaving cause distress or disrupt a person's ability to function. A mental health disorder may affect how well you: • Maintain personal or family relationships • Function in social settings • Perform at work or school • Learn at a level expected for your age and intelligence • Participate in other important activities Cultural norms and social expectations also play a role in defining mental health disorders. There is no standard measure across cultures to determine whether a behavior is normal or when it becomes disruptive. What might be normal in one society may be a cause for concern in another. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a guide published by the American Psychiatric Association that explains the signs and symptoms of several hundred mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder an...

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Was this helpful? Taking sick days for physical health is commonplace, but the practice of taking time off work to tend to your mental health is more of a gray area. Many companies have policies for mental health or personal days, but it can still be hard to take time off when you simply need a mental break. You may feel guilty or hesitant to use one of your precious PTO days and push yourself to show up anyway. Yet, when you’re feeling too stressed, you and your work suffer, potentially leading to issues that can hurt your performance and co-workers. Knowing when to take a mental health day for yourself is crucial to maintaining your overall health and well-being, both in and outside the workplace. Here’s everything you need to know about how to take a mental health day. “If you feel overwhelmed, stressed, have trouble focusing or concentrating on work or at home, or are more irritable, then you may want to consider taking a mental health day. If you think about your life as a plate with sections for work, family, life, and things you like to do, and the plate is overflowing in all areas but the things you like to do, it is time for you to take a break and participate in self-care,” It can be all too easy to convince yourself that poor mental health isn’t a good enough reason to take time off work. If you’re physically able to work, why not go in and get paid? But remember that your mental health is just as important to your overall well-being as your physical health. Jus...