Emotional Well-being: A to Z of Word Meanings

Sometimes Medication can be used to help treat a mental health problem. Medications are licensed drugs that have been designed to treat a particular thing that is happening to a person. The medication a person is given depends on all sorts of factors such as their age, other drugs they are taking, the drugs available in their locality, and other personal factors such as allergies, ability to take tablets etc.

Medication can have side effects. There are often alternatives so it is always worth talking about side effects with doctors rather than giving up on treatment entirely. This can be dangerous.

When medication for mental health problems begin to work people often feel they are “cured” and able to stop taking tablets.

It’s really important that a person talks to their doctor or another person who understands the medication and condition before they stop taking drugs as it can be dangerous and cause a relapse. (the symptoms to come back or worsen)

Talking to doctors

It’s so easy to forget everything we want to say or fail to find the words when we go to a doctor. If you are going to the doctors and need to tell them anything about what is happening with your mental health / medication / treatment this epic website can help you plan. If you have any questions about medication its ok to ask the doctor until you are able to understand.

http://www.docready.org/static/client/index.html#/home

RC Psych also has some great advice on talking to your GP about mental health.

Understanding Treatment and medication Choices

For more information on whether medication might be helpful in a certain situation or whether other treatments might be useful you can visit Choosing What's Best For You which tells you the type of treatments available for different mental health problems and how likely they are to work.

You can also find out more information about taking medication for mental health on YoungMinds here

Just as we all have physical health we all have mental health. It can be better or worse at different times in our lives.

Having positive mental health, according to the World Health Organisation, means you're in a place of where you feel good enough to reach for the stars, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively, and to be able to make a contribution to your community. Mental health is an important part of your overall health and impacts on and is impacted by your physical and social health.

Mental health is not just about not having an illness – it’s about being able to survive and thrive in life.

Just like our bodies our minds can be exercised to get fitter and stronger and treating it badly can cause harm.

For some tips on how to cope you can visit Rise Above, or contact Childline on 0800 1111.

People face difficult experiences or feelings and hard times in their life and sometimes struggle to cope. Sometimes people manage these hard times, and/or time passes and the feelings go and people can move on. However, sometimes, the feelings are too difficult to handle, last a long time, or further difficult feelings or experiences come along that make a person feel even worse. This may mean the person is experiencing a mental health problem (like 1 in 4 people do in their lifetime). Something is impacting on their emotional well-being and life in a negative way. People can experience mental health problems such as stress, anxiety and depression without there being an obvious cause. It’s really important to talk to someone or ask for help, it’s a strong way to cope with a difficult situation.

Physical illnesses are conditions and disorders that affect our body (e.g. cancer, common cold, conjunctivitis) Mental illness are conditions and disorders that affect our mood, thinking and behaviour. Examples include severe depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addiction.

When someone has a mental illness it can, just like a physical illness, often be treated (so a person recovers completely) or managed (to reduce the impact of an illness on a persons’ life)

Where the mental illness is managed sometimes people can manage their symptoms and lead a life virtually unaffected by the condition, sometimes however, the illness or condition can be long term and the person may need a lot of support and face real changes in their lives for a period of time.

If someone thinks they may have a mental illness speaking to their GP can help them work out what’s going on.

If someone is planning to go to the doctor visiting Doc Ready can help them to get the best out of their visit: it will help them understand what will happen, what the doctor might be able to do to help, their rights, and also help them to plan what to say.

While a mobile phone can help keep you connected and safe it can also push loads of stresses and demands into your day, or worse still be a place where bullying and abuse can happen. Leaving phones on at night affects sleep and that’s a biggy for feeling well.

Phones can also be a great way to find information, help and support – there are some really smart apps out there that can help people manage problems, find help or just chill. For example Stepfinder can help you find support in London and Headspace helps you train your brain, relax, and build your emotional well-being.