Mental Health

Mental health is such a serious issue, however, it is one that is often not talked about. But it should be! Many people experience mental health issues--whether it's depression, anxiety, eating disorders, OCD, and more. Any mental health disorder can be overwhelming, exhausting, and difficult to deal with. The COVID-19 pandemic has spiked a lot of mental health issues amongst the population. There is less social contact, fear of getting and/or spreading the virus, stress from losing jobs and businesses, and so much more. I have my own anxiety issues that I deal with on a daily basis. It can be difficult to handle at times. From my own experience, I believe the most important thing someone with anxiety can do is learn some coping mechanisms. For me, I found that breathing exercises, meditation, and being around other people have helped me cope with my anxiety. I think whether someone suffers from mental health or not, they should find something that they can do for themselves on a regular basis to help them decompress and tune into themselves to see how they're feeling. This can be done through anything and is specific to the person. If they like to be creative it can maybe be done through painting, or if they like to stay to themselves it can possibly be done through reading or yoga.

Vocabualry Words:

Overwhelming- very great in amount (can mean in emotions)

Exhausting- very tiring

Difficult- needing much effort to accomplish, deal with, or understand

Spiked- increase sharply

Anxiety- a feeling of nervousness, worry, or unease

Cope- deal effectively with something difficult

Suffers- experience something bad or unpleasant

Vocabulary Exercise:

Match the following vocabulary words to the correct definition.

1. Spiked                                            A. Experience something bad or unpleasant

2. Exhausting                                     B. A feeling of nervousness

3. Cope                                              C. Very great in amount

4. Suffers                                           D. Increase sharply

5. Anxiety                                         E. Deal effectively with something difficult

6. Overwhelming                              F. Very tiring

Grammar Point

Adjectives are words that describe, or adding mean to, a word. They are usually placed before the noun or pronoun they are describing. For example, in the sentence "The yellow bird flew away," the adjective is the word "yellow." Yellow describes the color of the bird. You can read more about adjectives at https://english4today.com/grammar-topic/what-is-an-adjective/.

Grammar Exercise:

1. What is the adjective in the following sentence?

       The smelly man was standing too close to me.

2. There can be more than one adjective for one noun/pronoun. How many adjectives are there to describe the man in the sentence below?

       The old, smelly, cranky man was standing too close to me.

3. Create your own sentence with an adjective in it.

Photo credit https://www.coralsprings.org/living/mental-health-and-suicide-prevention-resources