For All Personnel
Recognizing Signs of Poor Mental Health
Poor mental health can impact on how we well manage or cope in our daily lives- this could be from minimal or mild impact to quite significant changes. They may be related to stress due to a particular situation or series of events.
Common signs and symptoms include:
- Drop in functioning
- Problems in concentration, logical thought and speech
- Loss of desire to participate
- Increased sensitivities
- Decline in Personal Care
- Mood swings
- Changes in sleep and appetite
- Unusual and odd behavior
- Suspicious and nervous
- Feeling disconnected from surroundings and self
All these behaviours can be shown by anyone and are not necessarily an indication of a mental health condition. Sometimes there are physical explanations, e.g. not being able to sleep because of new neighbours who are noisy, running out of money to buy items for personal hygiene.
Professional help should be urgently made available when we believe that a person is a danger to themselves, others or are unable to meet their basic needs.