Even the toughest people experience mental health issues from time to time. The worst thing about these problems is that they can sneak up on you. For example, you might brush off the fact you’ve been sleeping poorly for the last month or that you’ve been anxious to go outside.
This is why you should perform regular checkups to have a better understanding of your current mental health. In this article, we’ll talk about the benefits of mental health checkups and the symptoms that can indicate that something’s wrong with you.
What Are Mental Health Checkups?
“During a mental health checkup, you’ll fill a questionnaire that determines the state of your mental health,” shares Belleisle, an Ottawa online therapy. “These questionnaires help psychiatrists establish whether you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, or some other common or uncommon issue.
Anyone can benefit from these checkups, even if they’re not suffering from a major issue. By filling out a questionnaire and talking to a licensed psychiatrist, you’re able to assess your current mental and physical state. These checkups are especially valuable for people who are stressed or on the verge of burnout.
5 Benefits of Mental Health Checkups
These are the 5 main reasons why you should go check yourself:
1. Emotional Awareness
Conditions such as depression and anxiety come with all sorts of symptoms. The biggest issue is separating them to determine if a certain emotion is normal or an indication of a mental ailment. Through checkups, you’re able to properly assess your feelings and if they’re caused/related to depression, anxiety, or some other problem.
2. Treatment Plan
Once your provider has a better understanding of your current situation, the specialist will be able to create a healing plan. Psychiatrists should learn more about your daily habits and, if possible, discover some of your traumas and triggers during the first few sessions. That way, the medical specialist can devise an effective treatment plan for your particular case.
3. Early Intervention
Perhaps the most important thing about regular mental health checkups is that they help you alleviate some of the symptoms. With early intervention, you’re able to stop or slow down the deterioration of your health. Besides improving the quality of your life, early intervention is vital for preventing suicide.
4. Mental and Physical Treatment
Our mental and physical well-being are usually connected to each other. So, if you’re able to improve one of them, the other will soon follow. For example, by reducing stress, you’ll prevent high blood pressure and vice versa.
That said, mental health checkups can also be valuable for people who aren’t suffering from any specific mental problem. They can improve the overall quality of life while setting a basis for longer existence.
5. Mental Health Empowerment
Finding the right psychotherapist and receiving an appropriate aid can be quite tedious. You have to try out several medical professionals and create a treatment plan that’s suitable for your condition. As a result, the entire process is often tedious and slow.
With continuous checkups, you’re placed in the driver’s seat. You’re able to assess changes to your mental well-being over time and slowly design an approach suitable for your particular case.
When Do You Need a Mental Health Checkup?
Ideally, each one of us should perform a mental health checkup once a year. There are also situations where you’re feeling under the weather and believe that a checkup can be beneficial. Here’s how to tell if you should visit a psychiatrist:
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Focus
When you’re feeling slightly anxious or depressed, your focus tends to go down. You might notice that you have trouble executing the simplest tasks or that you need too much time to finish them. Poor focus is especially common among people with ADHD but might also appear in some other cases.
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Awareness
One of the best ways to determine if you’re mentally healthy is by assessing your self-awareness. You should be able to understand your emotions and stay in touch with everything that’s happening in your life.
When a person is unwell, they start struggling to process their emotions. They might be feeling angry, anxious, or sad all the time, but they might not be sure why that’s happening. In these situations, talking to a friend or keeping a daily journal can come in handy as it will help you reconcile your emotions over several weeks and months.
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Mood
As with any mental problem, the first issue you’ll notice is mood swings. You might be feeling ok for a while, only for your emotions to take a downturn. For example, you might be angry or crying more than usual. You might also experience sudden shifts in mood without any special trigger.
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Loneliness
If you’re trying way too hard to avoid loneliness, this often indicates that something’s amiss. Don’t get us wrong; hanging with your friends is completely normal. But if you’re constantly looking for companionship, even when you don’t feel like socializing, this might indicate you have certain negative emotions that you’re afraid to take head-on.
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Energy
People suffering from depression and other mental ailments usually have low energy. In many cases, low energy can also indicate a physical problem or a combination of mental and physical issues.
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Sleep
People who are struggling with stress and mental problems have a hard time sleeping 7 hours straight. You might be feeling unable to relax or that you’re waking up in the middle of the night with muscle tension. Although short-term sleep issues shouldn’t be much of a concern, prolonged insomnia should be addressed as soon as possible.
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Balance
It is vital that you assess your work-life balance. A healthy person should always have time to commit to fulfilling activities. You should have enough time for your hobbies, workouts, or to simply relax at home.
Last Thoughts
People who want to be proactive with their mental health should take periodic checkups. During these checkups, you’ll get in touch with your emotions and assess your current state.