Tuesday, October 10th is World Mental Health Day. This day was created in 1992 by The World Federation for Mental Health as a day to bring awareness to mental health issues faced by many.World Mental Health Day’s objective is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilize efforts in support of mental health. Here’s what Hera Hub member, Tiffany Glenn-Hall had to say…

The first step to solving problems around mental health and mental disorders is to recognize what these terms mean. Mental health is our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. A mental disorder is characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts, emotions, behavior, and relationships with others.

Mental disorders range from what you typically think of such as depression to intellectual disabilities and disorders due to drug abuse.

The second step is to deal with the stigma of mental illness. To do this, we need communicate openly about these ailments. We cannot ask someone who is currently in crisis to be more open about their difficulties than we already are. We must start with ourselves.

I have a generalized anxiety disorder; I am lucky that this is a known problem in my family and my generation openly talks about it and supports each other. What does it take for me to be healthy? I take a daily medication, am active four times a week, do not eat gluten, and take a probiotic. It takes time, support and self-awareness to find what combination of solutions will work best for you.

Often, I ask myself what does it feel like when I am not healthy? Exhaustion, thinking my husband is mad at me, low productivity, and having a hard time enjoying anything are signals for me. Let me be clear my husband is not mad at me; my brain lies incessantly when I am not healthy.

One of the gifts that come with self-awareness and support is I can ask my husband “are you mad at me?” and if he says no I know my brain is lying to me. It’s a significant sign my mental illness is not in check and I need help getting back on the right path. What do I feel like when I do what I need to? I feel great! My mental illness is in remission, I am productive, can enjoy friends/family, and my personality resurfaces.

What’s the next step? Sometimes when people see or have experience with neurological problems they want to help others who are going through the same experience. For mental health issues, this might look like volunteering with a non-profit that focuses on mental health or running an event to raise funds for the cause.

How Am I Taking Action?

For me, I want to solve problems. I want to create more solutions. I want to build a community around making the future better. This desire led me to create NeuralMoxie.com. I knew that many people are working on solutions to solving neurological disorder problems and many others who want to help.

At NeuralMoxie we will be presenting different ideas, research, and products that have come out of questions related to neurological disorders.

One great example is a recent interview done with Dayna, a recent patient dealing with Anorexia, yet now in remission shares her idea. What can be done to make completing an eating disorder outpatient program easier? Check out the interview.

About the author:

Tiffany Glenn-Hall has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California.

Tiffany has been aware of the incredible role the brain plays in who we are since she was in the 5th grade and saw my best friend hit by a car. The fragility of life and the lack of magic involved in medicine became abundantly clear.

Tiffany’s family has a multi-generational problem with generalized anxiety disorder. In her family being open and aware of their options and support for mental illness is the difference between being a contributing member of society and not being able to function.

Tiffany has a passion to spread open communication and empowerment to build solutions for neurological problems.

If you would like to submit a question, potential solution, or learn more, please contact.tiffany@neuralmoxie.com or find her on social media.

Facebook – @NeuralMoxie
YouTube – NeuralMoxie