May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Adair County Health Systems wants to end the stigma surrounding mental illnesses. 

Director of Senior Life Solutions Dianne Allsup says that mental health should be treated just like any other health problem. Allsup tells Raccoon Valley Radio normalizing mental health issues is a step in the right direction.

“Just like your physical health, if you ignore it and leave it alone it just gets worse, then things get worse, then you get in over your head. So the earlier you can address it the better off you are.”

Allsup describes a few of the many symptoms of someone with mental health issues. 

“Changes in sleep or eating patterns whether they increase or decrease either one, whether they are expressing feelings of sadness or helplessness and if they say ‘Oh I just want to give up.’”

She encourages people with those problems to talk to a mental health professional or primary care provider to assist them in the right direction. For more information listen to the Let’s Talk Guthrie County program  with Allsup here.