STRESS & Your Mental Health


Throughout the month of April, my focus has been on STRESS and how it shows up in a person’s life. I recently read an interesting article related to the effects of stress on a person’s mental health, and I wanted to share a piece of that information that I thought was critical for people to know since lots of people have gone through and are still experiencing pandemic-induced stress.

One of the most interesting pieces in the article, speaks of a nationwide service that helps connect those in crisis with suicide prevention and mental health counselors. It's a quick and easy number to remember (988) and this was my first time hearing about it. It's the number of the National Suicide prevention lifeline which also serves the Veteran's crisis line. If a person is in emotional distress or experiencing a suicidal crisis (or knows someone who might be), this is the number to utilize. I really needed a resource like this for a friend in college back in the 90s.

I was attending summer school at the time and a friend of mine was experiencing a mental health crisis. She was heavily stressing over a guy she was dating, and she ended up writing a suicide note because of those events. She gave two of our friends and me a note and asked that we not open it until a certain time. Of course, we all opened the letter and quickly discovered what her plans were. She had been drinking heavily and also ended up taking a bunch of pills. Her plan was to just, ‘fall asleep’.

When we discovered what happened, we drove her to the hospital, I went inside and spoke with a medical professional and explained to him what she’d done. I asked if they would be able to pump her stomach. He came out to the car and spoke with my friend and asked her why she took the pills. She gave her reasons and he told us that since she was an adult, he could not make her go inside to have her stomach pumped/drained. He then gave us instructions for the next 24 hours and asked that we watch her closely and call 911 if needed.

I shared that story because at the time my friends and I didn’t know what to do. I remember calling my mother in New York and telling her what was going on and asking her what we should do. I don’t remember there being a specific number for us to call, (other than 911). However, since we had access to a car and the hospital was not far away, we decided to drive her there ourselves. What she was experiencing was a mental health crisis due to the stress that had built up over the events occurring with her boyfriend.

Below is the article mentioned above and it’s a great Segway into the month of May, where I’ll focus on National Mental Health Awareness Month.

Time is Right to Focus on Mental Health | American Heart Association


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