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Mental ailments are often misunderstood or misdiagnosed, such as a condition like depression, which is thought by many to be a state rather than a bona fide illness. Historically, conditions that are physical in nature and relatively easily diagnosed have received the most attention from people across the world that search for clues and provide relief, but the mental counterparts to these tend to go unnoticed. That is why Mental Health Awareness Month exists: to draw attention to the various types and degrees of mental conditions that can affect everyone, attention that can bring about social acceptance, relief, and change for those who suffer from these afflictions.

Mental Health Awareness Month is observed during the month of May, and this year the theme is social connectedness. The best way to avoid the feeling of being alone, which can lead to depression and anxiety, is to have a network of family and friends with whom you can share the problems and worries that are plaguing you.

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Mental Health America suggests creating a short list of people that you can trust and speak to honestly and receive support and a positive attitude. Keeping in touch with family members who may or may not be far away is also encouraged in order to ensure that you have bonds with people that love you no matter what happens to you. This is especially important if you happen to be in the position to provide support to a relative or friend that happens to live alone or that may be going through a rough time. While committing to keep in touch is a good first step, it is also important to share what is on your mind honestly and constructively, being clear on what you want to accomplish by talking it out.

Make sure to not be singularly self-minded and listen to what the other person has to say as well. Try to get out of the house with friends and just enjoy their company as much as you can in order to ward off any feelings of loneliness and to reinforce the fact that you have people with whom you can share all of your concerns. But most importantly, do not be afraid to ask for help when you need it, whether it is from a friend or from a professional.

Created more than fifty years ago by a bill passed by Congress, Mental Health Awareness Month is a time to promote mental well being and to bring attention to mental conditions that can affect everyone from A-list celebrities to your next door neighbor. The most common of these is any of several types of anxiety disorders, which can affect one fourth of all American adults at one point in their lives. Symptoms include spontaneous panic attacks, uncontrollable worry, and social anxiety, all of which seriously impede the normal flow of daily life.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, National Anxieties Disorders Screening Day is held, which is the ideal time to get yourself examined to make sure that you are not suffering from any abnormal mental condition. The nature of mental illness is such that it is easy to assume that what you are going through is just a demon of your own creation which you can abandon as easily as you brought it upon yourself, but the truth is that some forms of mental disorders cannot be so simply cured and require medical attention. In the worst case, prolonged anxiety can lead to substance abuse, severe depression, and social withdrawal, three serious things that could be easily avoided by the effective treatment for clinical anxiety that is seldom pursued but proven to be effective.

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Depression tends to be an offshoot of anxious feeling and it can be similarly debilitating. Loss of energy, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness, extreme irritability, and changes in sleep habits and appetite are typical signs of depression, along with the general feeling of being “down”. Although just being in a bad mood for a long period of time is bad enough in itself, it is not, in and of itself, a sign of depression.

Rather, the condition is insidious, pervasive, but most of all, real, and can have serious side effects that, at their most potent, can prove deadly. Similar to National Anxieties Disorder Screening Day, there is a National Depression Screening Day, although it is held in the first week of October. For those who feel that depression is not real or something that is easily cured, they have nothing to lose by going to a doctor and discussing their feelings to see for themselves if the diagnosis and treatment of depression is any different than attempting to will it away.

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An important thing to keep in mind if you happen to be battling depression is that one good friend with whom you can talk to about everything can be the most helpful treatment of all. Having somebody there that understands what you are going through and is willing to talk it out with you and offer their advice or a fresh perspective is very valuable for several reasons, not the least of which being the greatly positive effects on mental well being.

Getting connected to friends and family that have known you for a long time and understand the changes you are going through is very important, but the next step when even they cannot help you is professional help. Although we never want to be in the situation when we feel like nobody we personally know could help us get out of what we are going through, the road to wellness does not end there. Stress, anxiety, and depression are three conditions that can also culminate in easily-noticed physical conditions, and when they have progressed that far it is important to seek help and the proper treatment.

Common symptoms include increasingly common feelings of despair, sadness and irritability, changes in appetite, nausea, muscle tension, acne, panic attacks, and other similar conditions that can seem to be harmless. If these changes in your body come at a time of chronic stress, it is time to balance the worry and stress in your life with more recreational activity and contact with friends. A large amount of stress has a negative impact on your body, but can be relieved by working in stress-reducing activities into your daily life. When the stress becomes overwhelming and all-encompassing, that is when it is indicative of something more, like depression or anxiety. Stress-induced depression and anxiety are conditions that can be treated by professional intervention, and those who have suffered for a long time should consider turning to clinical treatment for relief.

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Mental Health Awareness Month is a time to look past physical well being for a moment to assess mental well being. While it is more difficult to notice, dramatic and dangerous mental conditions can appear in otherwise healthy individuals, which is all the more reason to understand the signs and the options open to you. The positive impacts that social connectedness and professional treatment can have on your state of well being are documented and proven, which should provide hope to those suffering from insidious mental conditions like depression and anxiety. Pick up the phone and reestablish contact with a friend or a relative, or head out to dinner with someone who has always been close to you: such small actions could be doing yourself and your loved one a big favor when it comes to mental well being.