Mental wellness, physical wellness go hand-in-hand

It is heartbreaking to see that depression really can affect anyone as with the loss of a great comedic and gracious talent as Robin Williams who had struggled with mental illness for his lifetime. You are not alone.

Mental wellness is what makes physical wellness possible. If you are finding yourself, your family member, or a close friend dealing with and struggling with some overwhelming personal issues mental health professionals want to offer you support, help and guidance to become more productive and functional. Now that we have school upon us many of you are getting even more anxious because of worry of possible bullying and emotional stress that your child may have once back in school.

Do you or someone in your family (children, parents, and siblings) have problems with aggression, anxiety, panic, crowds, and struggle with being around people?

You are not responsible to fix yourself.

When any of the following questions come to mind make an appointment: Don't feel that you are alone or that you need to deal with these issues on your own. Have these questions/thoughts come into your head?

• My life is so hopeless.

• I really do not enjoy doing the things I used to most every day.

• How do I get out of this funk I'm in?

• Someday I'll quit smoking, when I am ready.

• I can't deal with all the stress!

• I wonder if I'm drinking too much.

• I am so afraid to talk to anybody about how I am feeling.

• I cannot sleep well at all.

• I have driven my family away with my addiction problem, there has got to be a better way.

• I know there is something wrong and I cannot put my finger on it.

• Smoking is the only thing that keeps me calm.

• My mood is all over the place, I don't like that I get so angry with my kids and family.

• I cannot focus on getting one thing done. My mind goes everywhere.

• There is no hope for me.

Here is some information to help support and validate that it is OK to seek help for struggles -- emotional and physical. Anxiety, depression, ADHD, bipolar, and schizophrenia should be treated with the same effort that diabetes, heart disease, and cancer are treated. You and your family do not need to struggle and feel that you should deal with this yourself.

• A large, national survey of adolescent mental health reported that about 8 percent of teenagers ages 13--18 have an anxiety disorder, with symptoms commonly emerging around age 6. However, of these teens, only 18 percent received mental health care. (NIMH.nih.gov)

• Depression is involved in more than two-thirds of the 30,000 suicides that occur in the United States every year.

• Anxiety disorders affect about 40 million American adults age 18 years and older (about 18 percent) in a given year, causing them to be filled with fearfulness and uncertainty. (NIMH, National Institute on Mental Health)

• Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Recent studies show that smokers who talk to a clinician about how to quit dramatically increase their chances of quitting successfully. Quitting smoking is the most important step you can take to improve your health. Your doctor can help you quit. (Surgeon General's Report)

• Behavior therapy is not traditional psychotherapy. It is often called Cognitive-Behavior Therapy or "Exposure and Response Prevention," and it is highly effective for many people with OCD. (NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness)

-- Don Wleklinski, PMHNP-BC, APRN, is proud to be working with Community Physicians Group's Siloam Springs Medical Center to bring mental wellness services to the community. He holds dual degrees in counseling from JBU -- in marriage and family and community counseling. He is currently teaching as an adjunct at JBU.

General News on 08/20/2014