Common Mental Health Risk Factors

Mental health issues from depression, anxiety, personality and eating disorders, psychosis, and schizophrenia, to name a few, impacts cognitive, emotional, and social faculties. The concerns affect people to a certain severity, which can be associated with physical health and activity levels, social support, and personal attributes like coping mechanisms. Caring for your mental wellness is critical as you strive to lead a healthier lifestyle. This includes understanding the common risk factors and enlisting a psychiatric & mental health specialist North Chelmsford for diagnosis, management, and treatment. Here is a glance at the common mental health risk factor to get you started.

Genetic predisposition

During the diagnosis phase, specialists ask about your family history. This might not seem significant, but it is crucial since a history of mental illness in your blood relatives, like parents or siblings, puts you at high risk. Certain genes increase mental health concerns, meaning the problems can easily be triggered by life situations, necessitating proper measures to help you cope and mitigate its escalation chances.

Genetics also affects your brain chemistry, which impacts your mental health. Your brain structure and chemistry, including neurotransmitters responsible for carrying signals to the brain and other body parts, can be impacted by your genes and concerns like health issues. This affects the nerve receptors and system, resulting in mental health problems like emotional and depression disorders.

Drugs use

Drug dependence can result in serious mental health issues, including ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar, schizophrenia, PTSD, panic, and generalized anxiety disorders, to name a few. The tricky part is that mental health issues can drive you into alcohol and drug abuse, which worsens the situation. This means you can be trapped in a never-ending loop. Treating drug abuse disorder can help avoid mental health issues from worsening. This includes establishing and addressing the underlying issue, which could be mental concerns.

Life situations

Life can be chaotic, and we all respond differently. Following your coping skills, you can either pull through disturbing situations or be overwhelmed and trapped in the chaos. Concerns like the loss of a close loved one, financial distress, relationship troubles, and a history of child neglect or abuse, to name a few, can have a serious mental load. This requires you to develop practical skills to face adversity, solve problems, and cope with stress to ensure it doesn’t accumulate to unmanageable levels.

Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries can easily slide and go untreated. A blow to the head, such as in an accident or contact sports, can be ignored once the pain subsides, which continues to damage your brain and lead to mental health problems. A concussion, for example, can escalate a pre-existing mental concern or lead to the development of one. This ranges from mood swings, anger, PTSD, anxiety, and depression, to name a few. Whenever you take a bow to your head, it is advised that you seek medical attention for a thorough diagnosis to avoid such complications.

Health problems

Whenever battling a health problem, you experience a certain stress level. In chronic conditions like diabetes, the stress levels are high, and given the physical toll the problems have on your body, you can easily develop mental health issues. Proper care, including physical activity, quality sleep, healthy nutrition, taking prescription medication, and routine medical visits, can help keep the conditions in check and lower the risk of developing mental problems.

If you have had a mental health problem, you are likely to experience it down the line. Understanding such risks makes it easier to manage the situation by seeking immediate assistance when you experience symptoms. Visit Greater Lowell Psychiatric Associates, LLC today for all your mental health needs.