“Just as a person can be diagnosed with a broken leg, receiving a diagnosis of a mental illness is simply a way to understand what has happened to them and find the best treatment to help them.”
Different cultures and religions have different views on mental health. Some cultures have certain traditions or rituals to treat mental health problems, while others see mental illness as a spiritual issue.
In Australia, mental health is referred to as the state of wellbeing and it affects the way you think and act, and how you handle work and social relationships. We all have different thoughts, ideas and feelings that are unique to us, and every person experience mental health problems or mental illness differently. For example, some people don’t demonstrate sadness even if diagnosed with depression but instead have problems with anger. Others may seem well but could also be diagnosed with a mental health disorder.
Recognising that you have a mental health problem is usually the first step in management. This is called having ‘insight’. Not everyone can diagnose and treat mental health conditions. Treatment in Australia is usually performed by mental health professionals: doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors or social workers. Mental health professionals have studied how the human body and brain function for years and have learnt what approaches work best to treat a particular mental health problem or illness. We know that these treatments are successful through extensive research a people experiencing the mental health problem or illness report improved symptoms and overall wellbeing after treatment.
If someone is experiencing a mental health problem or has been diagnosed with a mental illness, the problem or illness does not define them or make them less worthy. Just as a person is diagnosed with a broken leg, receiving a diagnosis of a mental illness is simply a way to understand what has happened to them, to define which illness they are suffering from and to find the best treatment to help them.