The Moment I Knew I Had a Mental Health Condition: Real Talk from Patients

We’ve all had “one of those days.” Days when you feel sadness for no reason, anxiety, or sky-high levels of stress. Days where you just feel off. Days when you think to yourself, What’s wrong with me?

For some people, these feelings go away after a couple of days and life continues on. For 45 million Americans living with a mental illness, these feelings stick around and significantly affect their emotions, behaviors, physical health, and quality of life. What’s more, many people may not necessarily realize they have a mental health condition, leaving them undiagnosed, and worse, untreated. (Here are signs of mental health issue you might be overlooking.) We asked six brave patients about the moment they knew they were dealing with a mental health issue, and how the diagnosis affected their life.

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Written by:

Brittany Doohan

Brittany Doohan was the Content Director at HealthiNation and is currently the Editorial Director at Medscape. Through her work with Medscape, she won a Silver Telly Award in May 2022 for "Sleepless Nation: A Public Health Epidemic — Episode 2: A Decade Without a Diagnosis." She has worked in health journalism and video production for more than 8 years, and loves the challenge of explaining complex topics in an easy-to-understand and creative way.

Reviewed by:

Brian Clista, MD

Dr. Clista is a board-certified pediatrician who works in private practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He previously served as a National Health Service Corporation Scholar in the inner city of Pittsburgh for 11 years.

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