What is Mental Health?

Mental health is an important part of our overall health. It includes one's emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects how we process information, how we feel about certain things and how we react to it. Poor mental health and mental illness are often used interchangeably but it is not the same. A person with poor mental health might not be diagnosed with a mental illness (CDC 2020).

Why Mental Health is important?

Mental health and physical health are equally important components of individual's overall health status. For example, depression increases the risk for many types of physical health problems, particularly chronic conditions like diabetes, heart attacks and stroke. These chronic conditions with associated comorbidities can also increase the risk of mental illness. In the United States ~ 11.2% of the adults (aged 18 and above) have regular feeling of worry, nervousness or anxiety ( ~4.7 % has feelings of depression). Almost 55.7 million patients visit to physician office have primary diagnosis of mental disorders. Number of suicide deaths reported was 45 ,979 (CDC 2020). 1 in 25 Americans lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression (CDC 2016).

What causes mental illness?

There are multiple factors that increases the risk and causes mental illness such as bad life experience (trauma, child abuse, sexual assault, and witnessing violence). Chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, advanced heart failure, advanced COPD, and multiple comorbid condition in adult population- all can lead to one or the other mental illness, the common among them being depression. Substance use including excess alcohol use and use of street drugs increases risk of mental illness.

How do Nibbana Healthcare treat Mental illness/disorders?

Our physician performs thorough psychiatric screening and evaluation. We treat common mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, and substance misuse (alcohol abuse and/or substance abuse). The common modalities in treatment are supportive psychotherapy in Primary Care, counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medications (psychopharmacology). Appropriate patients will be referred to the psychologist and psychiatrist. Our focus is also on prevention and treatment of substance use. Patients will be referred to appropriate detoxification center after thorough evaluation.