When is Mental Health Rehab Necessary?
Most everyone has his or her own quirks and idiosyncrasies. Throughout the course of the day, these “unique qualities” may have little to no effect on a person’s ability to function effectively. In cases where these qualities start to affect one’s quality of life, the seeds of mental illness may be at work.
Mental health rehab programs help people work through personal issues that seemingly take a toll on their ability to manage daily life. Whether or not mental health rehab becomes necessary depends on a range of factors, many of which have to do with how a person copes with day-to-day stressors and pressures.
As with all medical and psychological problems, some people may be more at risk of developing mental health problems than others. More oftentimes than not, the need for mental health rehab will become glaringly apparent to those closest to the person in question.
What is Mental Illness?
According to the Mayo Clinic, mental illness affects one out of every four American adults within any given year. At this rate, it’s estimated that half the adult population will develop mental illness at some point in their lifetimes. Though rates of mental illness may run high, the number of people who actually seek mental health rehab treatment is small.
While most people experience feelings of anxiety or sadness every now and then, mounting stress levels and difficulty with managing daily life affairs most distinguish a mental illness from a passing phase. In the absence of mental health rehab, signs of mental illness become more pronounced to the point where a person suffers a total breakdown in overall ability to function.
Degrees of Mental Illness
If you’re having trouble managing your symptoms rehab is always an option.
According to the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, degrees or severities of mental illness can vary depending on how much a particular condition interferes with his or her –
- Work performance
- Family relationships
- Learning capacity
- Ability to communicate with others
Likewise, different types of mental illness produce different degrees of impairment. For example, one person may experience mild symptoms of depression but still be able to function while another person’s symptoms may prevent him or her from getting out of bed. As symptom severity increases, the need for mental health rehab becomes more apparent.
Types of Mental Illness
Mental illness can take shape in any number of ways as reflected by the number of category and subtype listings found in the Diagnostic Manual of Statistical Disorders. Within the general population, the most common types of mental illness take the form of –
- Mood disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Schizophrenia-type disorders
Mental health rehab programs help a person better manage disorder symptoms in ways that enable him or her to function effectively in everyday life.
Risk Factors
Mental illness tends to develop under certain sets of circumstances, be they environmental or biological in origin. Factors known to increase the likelihood of developing a mental illness include –
- A family history of mental illness
- Chronic life stressors
- Chronic medical conditions
- Drug addiction
- Having had a mental illness in the past
Having one or more of these risk factors increases the likelihood a person will develop a mental illness.
Ultimately, the best way of determining whether mental health rehab is necessary lies in the amount of chaos and disruption that results out of a difficult period in one’s life.
