May is for Mental Health
One of the challenges of working in the mental health field is how easily one can become engulfed by it. For me, being engulfed means losing sleep, feeling stressed, becoming irritable, feeling isolated, and developing a peculiar cynicism common with mental health workers. As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, every month is mental health month. May is an opportunity for me to do just that—to take a step back and assess the broader landscape. It’s akin to an artist who gets too close to their craft, needing to step back to see whether their sculpture is shaping up as intended. And while there may be some bright spots, the overall picture remains rather gloomy, even alarming. This May 2024, I want to join the many organizations and communities in reiterating that this year, perhaps more than ever, taking charge of your mental health is crucial.
May is celebrated as Mental Health Awareness Month in the US. During this time, public and private institutions and local communities engage in awareness campaigns to highlight the importance of caring for our mental health and supporting those with mental illness. Although mental health is part of holistic health, many remain unaware of how to identify and improve their mental health.
Challenges with mental health are pretty common.
One out of five people in the US live with a mental illness. Also, one out of five youth aged 13-18 is currently living with or has struggled with debilitating mental health issues in the past. In the U.S., one in 25 adults suffers from a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression (1). According to the World Health Organization, one in four people will suffer from a mental health problem in their lifetime. Despite available professional help, only about a third of people seek treatment. The symptoms of mental illness are usually observable in a person’s behavior, often leading to dysfunction in their sleep, eating, emotional, and relational patterns. Without treatment, symptoms may get worse, leading to disability and impairment, affecting one's ability to be independent, maintain a job, or manage interpersonal relationships.
Mental illness is no respecter of persons and can occur across the lifespan, regardless of race, ethnic background, gender, or socioeconomic status. However, certain types of mental health challenges may be more prevalent in groups with higher risk factors, such as poverty, oppression, disability, and inequality (2). This article examines why prioritizing our mental health in 2024 is more important than ever, bringing awareness to significant trends and encouraging intentional engagement with these challenges.
Our Mental Health Is Getting Worse
Unless you have been living off the grid on your private island surrounded by an oasis of perfect people, you may have encountered someone who struggled with a mental health issue just in the last week. In the old days, it was somewhat expected to see parents stress about kids complaining about making ends meet with regard to affording children's education and meeting immediate and extended family expectations. Today, mental health challenges are rising among children. However, one may question if this is merely perception, amplified by various media outlets or reality experienced by people in their daily lives.
The fact is that the rate of death from suicide for youth ages 15-24 in the US has more than tripled between 1950 (6.5%) and 2016 (20.5%) (3). Between 2009 and 2019, there was an increase of 40% in the number of high school students who reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, 36% in the number of students who seriously considered attempting suicide, and 40% in the number of students who actually attempted suicide (4). The reasons for these changes are complex, stemming from natural disasters, attributed to global warming, the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical unrest, the influence of social media and overstimulation from smartphones, and economic strife. The US Surgeon General has been outspoken about mental health challenges, highlighting worsening trends of depression, anxiety, and suicide in youth populations and widely discussing the influence of social media, the epidemic of loneliness, and its risks (5).
Stigma is Decreasing, but there is More Work to Do
Stigma toward mental illness has decreased due to increased awareness, but there is still so much work to be done. To this extent, some have claimed that there is an excessive overemphasis on mental health, especially within the Gen Z population, leading to a culture of entitlement and lack of grit. Many celebrities, TV talk show hosts, and popular social media influencers have made talking about mental health challenges almost ubiquitous in daily life.
In the evolving trend of reducing stigma, in 2008, the US government passed the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, preventing health insurance companies from implementing practices that restrict clients' access to mental health treatment. Examples of these restrictions lincludelimiting treatment, copays, deductibles, etc., which are unfavorable compared to other medical conditions (6). Mental health taking center stage in many political and social media spaces demonstrates a greater acceptance of mental health as part of our general health and the importance of addressing these challenges.
Nevertheless, in the African diaspora community, many barriers to receiving timely and quality mental health care still exist. A few of these barriers include mistrusting health care systems, discrimination in care, the use of prescription medications, financial restrictions, distrust of providers, stigma attached to mental illness, and culturally encapsulated notions of disease etiology that are usually associated with witchcraft or demon possession. These barriers often result in delays or avoidance ofobtaining timely and quality mental health care and contribute to why more people of African descent are diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder. For example, they are more impaired and persistently ill compared with their Caucasian counterparts. This reflects the he failure to implement what may be common sense solutions such as lifestyle changes to address the issue (7). As a result, many people do not seek or delay in seeking treatment for mental health conditions. This lack of treatment or basic intervention can exacerbate conditions, leading to more serious outcomes, such as suicidal thoughts or behaviors (7).
Technological advances may be worsening our mental health.
Technological advances like the internet, smartphones, and artificial intelligence have brought many advantages. People are now more connected and informed than ever before in history. The COVID pandemic only accelerated this trend, affecting every industry, from retail and finance to healthcare and mainstream media. People can now work collaboratively and across long distances, making remote work the norm for certain professions. A higher level of interconnectedness and ease of communication, the ability to learn online, the convenience of online shopping, access to information and entertainment, and the software as a service and gig economy have improved convenience and cut costs for many businesses. AI continues to help people stretch their limits of productivity and creativity. Now, there is talk of robots replacing mundane and repetitive jobs—however, the overuse and overreliance on some of these technologies can negatively affect our mental health.
The sheer volume and pace of innovation can result in increased stress and disorientation, aptly coined by Alvin Tofler in his book titled “Future Shock”. He describes the physical and psychological changes due to our limited adaptability to the changes in our society. These changes occur because our ability to adapt is not infinite and the advances in technology have often outpaced our ability to adapt (8). The emergence of AI technology propels rapid changes, making it difficult for people to adapt and results in increased stress as people and companies have to retool or educate themselves in order to maintain their competitive edge.
The rapid rate of change and technological advancement also contributes to the overstimulation of our nervous systems, not giving us time to process and integrate information into our daily lives. This increases distress as groups of people attempt to adapt and orient themselves towards success and survival. The stress created by our limits to adaptability manifests physically and even psychologically, contributing to increasing levels of burnout, depression, anxiety, loneliness, apathy, and nihilism. Social media overuse was also a culprit in the case of worsening mental health. In a study of college students, social media use was observed and proved to worsen anxiety and depression for some students due to:
fear of missing out
hyperconnectivity with peers
comparison culture
decreased face-to-face social interactions
impairment of social skill development
decreased inhibition of antisocial behavior (9).
To mitigate the effects of these changes, people are encouraged to be more proactive toward caring for their mental health. Here are some things we can do to help our mental health issues.
Proactive Measures for Mental Health in 2024
In our quest to improve mental health in 2024, we may face several barriers, which may include changing our behaviors and lifestyles. Caring for our mental health may involve stepping out of our comfort zones, initiating new activities, or taking chances to be more vulnerable in our relationships. Some of these changes may involve having to face ourselves, and our commends our strenghths while acknowledge our and vultnerabilities and biases. It may require us to become more informed about a multitude of things which impacts our mental well being. However, we can begin by focusing on 6 main categories to decrease stress and build resilience in response to the wave of change. (10)
Increased awareness about mental health challenges: Managing anxiety, depression, and common mental health issues is crucial. This does not mean we all become practitioners, but rather that understanding the concepts of how our thoughts, emotions, physical well-being, our environment, and relationships affect us becomes important. It may require improving our communication skills and our ability to empathize with others.
Developing supportive relationships with caregivers (for children), family members, and peers: Given that we as human beings have always found safety in numbers and familiarity, we are encouraged to make the effort to build or mend relationships within our communities to foster our own sense of wellness and connectedness..
Getting enough high-quality sleep: We can become easily distracted in the age of technology where we have unlimted access to our phones and other electronic devices, businesses, and high stress. Adequate sleep allows us to process information, regulate emotions, decrease overall stress, and improve our ability to learn and retain new information and make better decisions.
Balanced nutrition: As the saying goes, "We are what we eat." Increasing awareness of how eating balanced meals with healthy proteins, carbohydrates, and fibers—and staying properly hydrated, while avoiding processed meals and high sugar intake—is helpful.
Regular physical activity: Our bodies are built for movement, and research has shown that physical activity is an effective method to combat various ailments, including anxiety and depression.
Mindfulness and meditation: You may practice this through spiritual practices, focusing on calming thoughts/activities, and learning to suspend judgment, thereby improving acceptance and developing more curiosity about our inner experiences.
Experiencing nature: Nature is known to decrease stress as long as we don’t take our phones and devices along, giving us time to slow down and disconnect from the din of the world. Nature also has a way of calming the nervous system based on our physical connection with the earth through grounding.
Mental health care, including psychotherapy or psychiatric care, and substance use disorder treatment, when indicated are helpful solutions to improve quality of life:. In severe cases of mental illness, we are encouraged to seek treatment from trained professionals where available.
Having a structured lifestyle In an increasingly busy world, where many are juggling various tasks. Having set times for eating, sleeping, waking, doing chores, and spending time with family and friends, etc., is beneficial.
While many of these measures may not directly slow the rapid pace of technological progress, mitigate the effects of global warming, resolve geopolitical strife, or reverse the inequities within our health and economic systems, they equip us with the resilience needed to face these challenges. They also provide us with a sense of courage and strength to help navigate the turbulent waters of modern life.
We can continue to advocate for improved mental health resources and societal changes while doing what we can at a personal level to care for ourselves and our loved ones. Let 2024 be the year we decide to do this. There has never been a better time to care for your mental health.