California Mental Health Services
Mental health is an umbrella term encompassing your cognitive, emotional, and behavioral wellbeing – how you think, feel, and act.
Sometimes, the terms “mental health” or “sound mental health” are used to refer to the absence of a mental health disorder
Mental health issues can be damaging to your physical health, and they can also impact your day-to-day living and your interpersonal relationships. In the other direction, circumstances in your life, your interpersonal relationships, and your physical health can all contribute toward issues with your mental health.
What is Mental Health?
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as “a state of wellbeing” in which you are able to achieve the following.
- Fully realize your own abilities
- Cope with life’s everyday stressors
- Work productively and effectively
- Contribute to the community
Beyond this, the WHO emphasizes that mental health is more than only the absence of mental health disorders. Peak mental health involves avoiding active mental health conditions, but you should also nurture your happiness and ongoing wellbeing.
NAMI data shows that one in five adults in the United States experiences a serious mental health issue in any given year.
The most common mental health conditions are as follows:
- Anxiety disorders: The most common type of mental health condition, anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
- Mood disorders: Also known as depressive disorders, mood disorders include major depressive disorder, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and bipolar disorder.
- Schizophrenia disorders: This highly complex condition is a group of related illnesses that can severely disrupt daily living.
What can you expect from mental health facilities in California, then?
Best Mental Health Facilities in California
The signs and symptoms you will experience depend on the mental health condition. Symptoms can disrupt your life and impair your overall quality of life.
These are the most common red flags indicating the possibility of an underlying mental health condition:
- Frequently feeling sad or down
- Dramatic mood swings
- Inability to focus
- Feeling guilty or ashamed
- Worthlessness
- Choosing withdrawal and isolation rather than socializing
- Feeling anxious or worried
- Experiencing low energy and fatigue
- Suffering from insomnia
- Suicidal ideation
- Hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia
Many people with undiagnosed mental health conditions self-medicate the above symptoms with drink or drugs. Not only is this ineffective, self-medicating is liable to inflame both issues over time, resulting in co-occurring disorder or dual diagnosis (addiction with a co-occurring mental health disorder).
Instead, choose one of the many mental health treatment centers California if you experience problems with mental health.
Searching online for “mental health clinic” or “mental health services near me” should yield many suitable services offering a combination of medication-assisted treatment and psychotherapy.
Finding the right course of treatment might take time. Some strategies or treatment work best when used in combination with others, so be patient, and be prepared to try more than one approach.
For some people with chronic mental health conditions, different treatment options may prove effective at different stages of life.
Many people take prescribed medications for mental health conditions. These include:
- Antidepressants
- Anxiolytics (anti-anxiety medications)
- Antipsychotics
Medications do not cure mental health conditions, but they can often help to manage the symptoms.
Talking therapies, also known as psychotherapies, are proven effective for treating a variety of mental health conditions from depression and anxiety to PTSD and bipolar disorder.
CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) are the most commonly used forms of psychotherapy.
With talk therapy, you’ll explore the root cause of your mental illness, and you’ll learn to build healthier patterns of thinking, while avoiding negative behaviors.
Lifestyle changes can also help improve the symptoms of most mental health conditions. These include:
- Improving quantity and quality of sleep
- Eating a healthy, balanced diet while staying hydrated
- Exercising for at least thirty minutes daily
- Reducing intake of alcohol and nicotine, if abstinence is impractical
- Resolving issues in your interpersonal relationships
- Engaging with relaxation techniques (yoga, meditation, mindfulness)
If things are so bad you feel the need for immediate help, there are many mental health programs in California, and there is also a helpline if you require urgent assistance.
California Mental Health Hotline
The LACDMH offers a dedicated 24/7 mental health helpline at (800) 854-7771.
This helpline serves as the main entry point for mental health services and mental health hospitals in California.
How to Find Mental Health Services Near Me
If you are struggling with substance abuse issues as a result of self-medicating the symptoms of a mental health condition, the LACDPH offers a substance abuse hotline at (844) 804-7500.
When things feel like they couldn’t get any worse, contact the National Suicide Prevention line at (800) 273-8255.
Before it gets that bad, though, reach out to admissions at
