In my last blog post, I explained how many people hear the word “health,” and automatically think about illness or the physical aspect and completely leave out mental health. Mental health is an important part of one’s overall health and well-being, encompassing our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. As I mentioned before, mental and physical health are equally important components of overall health. I can not stress that enough. Now keeping all of that in mind, we all know how to type on our phone or on our computer “Mental Health,” and click on a link. However, how do we know that the page we are about to open up is credible or not? How do we know whether or not to follow their suggestions? How do we know that Instagram post is legit? What about that Facebook post? In order to help you figure out where to initially look when it comes to finding information on mental health and knowing what can be trusted, I have organized some sources into two categories, “Peace of Mind” and “Never Mind.”
Peace Of Mind
MentalHealth.gov is a site set up by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that provides one-stop access to U.S. government mental health and mental health problems information. MentalHealth.gov aims to educate and guide the general public, policy makers, health and emergency preparedness professionals, leaders, school systems, and communities. This site is great for learning about mental health and the different types of illnesses and disorders, and helping find treatment and recovery.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the lead federal agency for research on mental disorders. NIMH is also part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIMH envisions a world in which mental illnesses are prevented and cured. They have a mission to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure. This site is extremely credible because all their information is based on research. NIMH is great for learning about mental health research, funding, finding treatment, and joining a study.
Mental Health America is the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and promoting overall mental health of all Americans. Aside from promoting mental health, they work on including prevention services for all; early identification and intervention for those at risk; integrated care, services, and support for those who need it; with recovery as the goal. I personally follow their Instagram account @mentalhealthamerica which provides insightful and positive posts and links you to blogs, screenings, and help.
Never Mind
NaturalNews.com was founded by Mike Adams, who claims to have cured his own type 2 diabetes with natural remedies. This site is one of many health-focused sites that peddle false and misleading claims to large audiences. This is done by presenting themselves as authoritative reference guides on health topics while relying on false claims and misrepresented sources to promote alternative medical treatments. This site is not at all credible.
Facebook is a place to connect with friends, family, and other people you know. We share photos and videos, send messages and get updates. Even though this is a great platform to communicate and share information, not everything posted is true. Many links shared can be fake, false and misleading information. There have been dozens of times where my friends on Facebook share a post that they’ve come across, I would read it only to realize it sounds insane. And many times it’s a scam, or someone just writing nonsense for attention (shares, comments, and reactions.)
Tune In is a free internet radio. They deliver live sports, up-to-the-minute news, curated music, millions of podcasts, and over 120,000 streaming radio stations. Considering they have an audience of 75 million listeners, across 197 countries with an average listening time of 400 million hours monthly, one should realize that not all podcasts delivered through this platform can be reliable or credible. Podcasts are heavily opinionated, which makes them biased, therefore they become not-credible sources.
This post was written to give you a better idea of what sources should give you peace of mind due to their trustworthy and credible information when it comes to mental health and what sources you should never mind because what you read on those sources may or may not be credible. Always be mindful of the sites you visit and the information you are given in order to achieve good mental health.
Keep Your Mind Healthy 