Mental Health in Today’s Society

Mental Health in Today's Society

What comes to mind when you think about mental health? Do you have positive thoughts or negative thoughts? Do you think about yourself or others? Are you well informed? Do certain disorders pop into your head? There are dominant mental illnesses that have detrimental effects in people’s lives across the world. A healthy mental state is one of the most important things you can have. Mental health affects how you feel, think, and act.

In such a fast paced society and a world that’s ever-changing, it’s often easy to overlook, to remain oblivious, and to lack understanding. We focus on the external rather than the internal. We as a society stigmatize and judge… but why? We shouldn’t. In fact, in the US, approximately 1 in 5 adults experiences mental illness in a given year.

Raising Awareness

Recently, a special light and awareness has been brought to mental health because of the numerous celebrity suicides that have taken place. I’ve seen an influx of statuses updated, articles written, and images posted. Death always brings up strong emotions and I’ve noticed a deep sadness in people all over the world. On top of sadness, I see shock. I see people not really understanding why, which is totally understandable. I’m not sure if we’ll ever be able to figure out the real reasons behind it all. I do know that mental illnesses and disorders exist and they need to be talked about.

We all know how touchy of a subject this can be, and that’s for good reason. When I first sat down to write this article, I immediately knew the importance of sticking to facts and doing my best to stray away from opinion. Scrolling through social media, it seems like everyone in today’s society thinks they are a licensed therapist or psychologist and opinions are running rampant. I’m not so sure they should be.

The main point of this article is to simply do my part in spreading awareness. In the news, various media outlets and in my personal life, I see mental illnesses affecting so many people around me and I felt the need to speak up. In this article, I’ve decided to solely focus on major mental illnesses and disorders that most of us are familiar with, or at least we think we are. It raises the question, “do we really know much about mental health”? Doing the research, I’ve learned a lot.

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Which Mental Illnesses Affect Americans the Most?

Depression is one of the most common and widely known mental disorders. Major depressive disorder affects approximately 6.7 percent of the US population age 18 and older, in a given year. Yes, depression is a disorder and it is one that can cripple the quality of one’s life in a concerning way. It can make a person fall out of love with the things they were once most interested in. Affecting the way we think, feel, and act in any given situation, depression can cause someone to have a sense of hopelessness.

When we first think of depression, we think of overwhelming sadness, but it’s important to know that depression can disguise itself. Some of the common symptoms caused by depression can be:

  • Trouble getting out of bed
  • Disrupted eating patterns
  • Disrupted sleeping patterns
  • Oversleeping
  • Thoughts of suicide or death   

Anxiety is another illness with an umbrella of disorders under it that affect the majority of the population. It is one of the most common disorders, affecting adults more than any other mental illness. In fact, it affects 40 million adults 18 years and older every year in the US. This disorder causes fear, worry, and stress.

Yes, we all have these feelings from time to time, however with anxiety, this is a heightened and persistent state of the mind. It can truly affect the productiveness in someone’s life by hindering all capabilities of being able to function ‘normally’. It disallows people to go somewhere or to be involved with something due to the fact they have an over-rationalized fear of things going terribly wrong. Some different forms of anxiety can be presented as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), social anxiety, and panic attacks.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is another very common disorder that affects approximately 2.6 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older every year. It causes one to have constant changes in mood, energy, and activity levels. This is a serious mental brain illness. It can cause a person to act without rash decision making due to their extreme manic state or extreme depressive state.

A manic state can be noticed by someone acting more energetic than usual. Someone in a manic state can show signs of extreme happiness with an increased state of activity levels. A manic state can be followed by a depressive state- this usually consists of someone feeling very down, depressed, or empty. Someone in a depressive state has a lot less energy and seems like they don’t enjoy anything.

What Can We Do About It?

Although only three mental disorders were mentioned in this article, there are so many more. These facts bring to light that there are so many people affected by mental illnesses on a daily basis. If you are someone struggling, it’s important to know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. If you know someone struggling with mental illness, reach out. If you are someone that doesn’t really understand mental illness, learn; you never know who you can positively impact just by educating yourself. We never really know what’s going on in someone else’s life.

The good news is that mental disorders can be treated. I want to stress the importance of seeking professional help and not getting caught up in opinions or false information. Perception is key; don’t be fooled by social media and people pretending they have it all together. A little trust in the right hands can go a long way.

Reminder: If you haven’t already, tell someone you love them.

Much Love,

Why Every Business Needs Digital Marketing

Why Every Business Needs Digital Marketing

Chances are, if you’re not succeeding in business in 2018, it’s due to your marketing. Digital marketing is not only essential, it’s crucial. The reality is, in this day and age, marketing represents a vast amount of presence in the business world. The physical age is over. The truth is, if you’re not in this digital world yet, you probably don’t have much of a presence. Yes, we know the truth hurts but sometimes, it’s what we need to hear.

This digital world that I’ve been speaking of is ever-changing. In fact, 76% of people think marketing has changed more in the past two years than it did over the previous fifty (Adobe). So the good news is, if you don’t know how to market your business or brand, there are people and agencies that constantly keep up with these changes- so reach out to one.

What to Look For In a Digital Marketing Team

It’s probably important that you know some things to look out for though. Make sure that whatever agency you contact is well-equipped with experience. The number one thing you should look out for is if an agency has a solid strategy planned to really show the world what you have to offer. Without that, they probably have much success in doing so. With an effective strategy, the goal of digital marketing is to bring you a high volume of traffic, from your target audience, that will convert as clients, customers or consumers. There are some key things that should be included in this strategy. Let’s start with SEO.

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Search Engine Optimization is Key to Long-Term Growth

Search Engine Optimization, otherwise known as SEO, is a marketing strategy based on building visibility by increasing the amount of inbound organic traffic through major search engines. In other words, it is a way to help people who are looking for a business like you, find you. On these search engines, you want to be on that first page. Chances are, most people aren’t even looking past that first page. But in order to get there, it takes time and a ton of work. While building up your organic presence, another strategy used is paid advertising.

Pay Per Click Advertising Gets You Traffic Immediately

PPC, Paid-per-click, is a way to advertise to get your name out there immediately. Essentially, it is a way to form a presence by buying visits to your online page right away. Most PPC is used on search engines, allowing users to place an ad related to the keyword searched at the front page to bring even more traffic to their site. In order to keep these users though, you need a great landing page that captures someone almost instantly. Without that, you are going to be paying for pointless clicks. Yes, you are paying for every time that link is clicked, but if you make a sale it should be well worth your money.

Social Media: The New Way We Connect with Each Other

Social media is another way to really brand your business’s name. It allows you to have a presence where most don’t via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. We don’t see many people today without these apps on their smartphones; even the older generation has caught on to the social media wave.  Social media allows us to have a presence or present a certain idea in simple ways, using images and quick text. According to Statista, 52.2 percent of all website traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones. What is easily accessible on mobile devices? Social media apps. When putting your brand out there on a social media platform, it lets users know you have some sort of reputation and it really opens your audience to a bigger crowd.

Don’t Get Left Behind, Let Your Business Stand Out From the Rest with Quality Digital Marketing

Just how you like to look good, your business has to look good too. I shouldn’t have to stress the importance of having a web design that competes. Certain design elements allow you to stand out and be remembered. From a logo to your color scheme, you want to appeal to your audience at first glance. Your website should represent your brand and should show the time and energy that you put into your business. Just like you don’t use the same suit you had from the 80’s, your website shouldn’t be outdated and a new modern look is the way to go. But it goes even deeper than design. Making sure your website is ‘SEO friendly’ and easy to navigate for your users is so necessary. In fact, your website won’t be seen by the masses if it’s not. Just like it takes seconds to make a good first impression when meeting someone new, the same goes for your digital appearance.

The point, every business in today’s world needs digital marketing. The majority of the population is going to the Internet to figure out where to eat, what to buy, who to see for anything they do. Don’t get lost in the times that no longer exist. Don’t fail because you’re set in old ways. Don’t miss out on success that is easily attainable when you utilize what’s needed. Digital marketing is now and digital marketing is the future.