Most of us are aware of the most common and evident symptoms of mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, but are you aware of some of the more subtle signs? These tips can help you give loved ones support and help even earlier, assisting in preventing escalation or deterioration of their condition.

Self-esteem is what you feel positively about or like about yourself. High self-esteem doesn’t always equate to high self worth. It must feel nice to have many qualities about yourself that you want, but this type of self-acceptance is conditional. It’s conditional on maintaining the qualities you like. What happens, for example if one of these qualities changes or isn’t able to be maintained – your self-approval rating goes down and you then struggle to accept yourself.

The brain is designed to be shaped by our experiences, wittingly or unwittingly, and ever heard of neuroplasticity? Well, basically this means that the brain evolves, adapts and wires based on our context and understanding.  Repeated patterns of emotional, cognitive, physical or circumstantial experiences can ‘wire’ our brain in specific ways that predict increases in certain behaviours, thoughts, emotional experiences, or physical experiences

If you’ve been struggling to understand why you aren’t happy even though there may be a number of things in your life you are grateful for, happy about and have worked hard for, then perhaps you need to examine and explore what you expected from life.