Signs Indicating a Person Might Have Mental Health Problems • Thinking disturbances - Signs of thought disturbances may be seen in the flow of thought of an individual has, they could have a rapid or slow thought process, circumstantial answers, obsessive thoughts, or fixed beliefs that are strongly held which also deviates from the person’s social, cultural, and educational background. • Disturbance in judgment - Impairment in judgment may be seen in many psychiatric conditions. They could manifest as underestimation or overestimation of the risks, impaired capacity to discern the pros and cons of a certain action, and lack of insight. • Disturbance in perception – This involves seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling things in the absence of sensory stimuli. People would often observe individuals experiencing this phenomenon talking or laughing by themselves, seeing things only they can see, smelling strange scents, or feeling that something is crawling under their skin. Training Module on the Right to Mental Health for Faith-Based Organizations Mental Illness consists of a range of symptoms that affects a person’s thoughts, feelings, actions, and mental functioning due to mental, neurological, and substance use disorders that arise due to biological, psychological, adverse social, and environmental factors. It is associated with significant distress and may result in a person’s inability to fulfill obligations, relate with others, or work effectively, and decrease ones coping abilities and function effectively. This is especially true if left untreated or not adequately managed. An episode may occur for weeks to months, can be cyclic, or persistent. • Disturbance of consciousness - This can be seen in the form of fluctuating levels of consciousness, confusion, increasing level of agitation as the night falls. • Memory disturbance – Memory lapses affect day-to-day activities, such as losing items, forgetting names, dates, directions, or appointments, repetition of questions or statements, and inability to recall recent details. • Disturbance in behavior – Disturbances in an individual’s behavior may include aggressive behavior, hostility towards others, impulsiveness, and violence. • Mood disturbance – An individual could exhibit fluctuating emotions or moods, easily become annoyed or irate, sad or anxious, then elated or euphoric. • Physical complaints – Physical discomfort may be experienced, for example, disturbances in sleep, appetite changes, medically unexplained muscle aches and pains, headaches, low energy, palpitations, tightness in the chest, feelings of uneasiness, sluggishness, and poor concentration. 8