always sought. Mental ill health generally has more of a significant and detrimental impact on a person’s life than periods of poor mental health, which may be situation specific or time limited. There is support and treatment available for mental ill health and mental health conditions, just like there is for a long-term medical condition such as diabetes. As Youth MHFAiders we talk about ‘poor mental health’ as opposed to ‘mental ill health’. This is because our role is not to There are different types of mental health conditions. Some of these are common, such as depression and anxiety disorders, and some of them are not common, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, mental health conditions, as with any health difficulty, can cause disability. This is not always well understood by people who have never experienced living with a mental health condition. Note: mental health conditions are different to neurological disorders, but sometimes they can display similarly. Neurological disorders are described as a physical malfunction of or damage to the brain and nervous system. Suicide speculate or to diagnose. Mental health conditions We use the terms ‘suicide thoughts’ and ‘suicide behaviour’ in replacement of outdated language that has been found to increase stigma. Suicide thoughts We define suicide thoughts as the thoughts someone may have when they no longer feel they can continue to live.
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