Programs for Stress and Mental Health Support

Programs for Stress and Mental Health Support Stress is a major psychological problem that impacts different populations in society. Whenever stress is prolonged, it leads to medical problems and increases mental health risks (Liu, 2017). Long-term stress causes depression and anxiety, which jeopardizes the mental health stability of an individual. Stress is a specific response caused by emergency problems and situational pressures, which leads to physical and emotional tension. Stress may also lead to muscle tension, pain, and sleep problems. Stress takes different forms, such as physical, emotional, or cognitive, leading to memory problems. Everyone experiences stress; however, the major difference is the intensity and the impact on an individual's mental health. Stress is classified into chronic and acute stress. Chronic stress is experienced for a long period. The major causes of chronic stress are pandemics and social problems. Chronic stress goes for a minimum of weeks and thus needs a well-established program for management. Acute stress is short-termed based and lasts for short such as hours. However, acute stress may become chronic when not efficiently and timely handled. Stress affects the body and mental health by releasing hormones that make the brain alert and increase muscle tension. Stress jeopardizes mental health due to memory problems, fatigue, exhaustion, insomnia, loss of control, and aggression (Yu et al., 2018). Therefore, public health programs are suitable for chronic and acute stress. The paper addresses public health programs to manage stress with a focus on the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Impacts of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Initiation of Public Health Programs
The major reason behind many public health programs in stress management is COVID-19 and its impacts on mental health. Due to the emergence of the pandemic in 2019 and social changes, the mental health of different populations deteriorated (Talevi et al., 2020). The major population impacted are the youths leading to exposure to substance use. Besides, the pandemic led to the loss of jobs, especially among young adults leading to stress and poor mental health. The pandemic also led to an increased rate of depression and anxiety among youths and young adults. The major cause is job loss and economic downturn, which also cause lowered self-esteem and distress. Due to different signs of poor mental health, including suicidal ideation, the government, with the help of the private sector, focused on public health amenities and programs to restore mental health. For instance, in 2021, up to 41% of the adults indicated the major signs of depressive disorder and anxiety (Kar et al., 2021). Substance abuse and suicidal rates also increased due to COVID-19-related stress. Therefore, the COVID-19 data shows the adverse impacts of stress on mental health.
Social isolation is the major cause of stress and poor mental health during the pandemic. Isolation during the pandemics reduced social contacts among individuals limiting their ability to interact with other parties. Social isolation causes stress and poor mental health since an individual develops a negated mindset which affects the mood and the body (Tonon et al., 2020). Therefore, it can lead to chronic health problems such as depression and anxiety. There is a critical link between poor mental health, loneliness, and social isolation. The spread of loneliness is a critical public health concern and psychological issue. The main solution is effective public health programs and mental health support to address the adverse impacts of loneliness. Loneliness is a major cause of physical and mental health deterioration (Tsamakis et al., 2020). Before the pandemic, different populations were also exposed to general stress, such as different reduced rate of employment. However, with an increased pandemic rate, different populations experienced chronic stress, including young adults. Therefore, public health programs for stress management consider all populations.
Public health programs are meant to address the parents who experienced stress and anxieties during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic led to many schools' closure, forcing most children to transition to virtual instruction and distance teaching (Cooke et al., 2020). Therefore, the parents had to take care of the children by assisting them in online learning leading to a change in the normal daily routine. Such transition against daily routine led to poor mental health among the children and their parents due to a high rate of stress. Besides, the emotional well-being of the children deteriorated, which is still a major concern in society. Women and children experienced a higher rate of mental health deterioration due to a weak stress management system than their male counterparts. For instance, women with children above 18 years in the same house indicated extreme mental health concerns than women without children (Tsamakis et al., 2020). Therefore, stress management and mental health improvement require a collective effort and program to restore emotional well-being.
Lastly, mental health deterioration has also been observed among adolescents with a high suicidal rate; thus, they heavily benefit from the public health programs. The pandemic led to school closures, thus limiting the adolescents from mental healthcare services. Before the pandemic, adolescents were also among the groups with a high rate of depression and anxiety issues. For instance, before the pandemic, 16% of adolescents recorded symptoms of depressive disorders and anxiety (Talevi et al., 2020). With the disrupted routine, adolescents have heavily experienced mental illness and increased exposure to substance abuse jeopardizing their mental health. Therefore, stress is a critical health problem that heavily jeopardizes mental health and exposes different groups, including youths, adults, and adolescents, to risks. Public health programs and mental health support are necessary to restore the mental health of the identified populations.
Public Health Programs to address Stress and Mental Health Support
Due to increased mental health issues and stress, especially from COVID-19, many public health programs have been established to deal with the situation. The key reason for such programs is to engage the affected populations, including adults, youths, and adolescents. Public health programs are significant since they are viable to any individual regardless of their financial or social status. Besides, the programs are also necessary for heavily affected communities with extreme mental health deterioration and exposure to substance abuse. The ultimate goal of the provided programs is to promote mental health stability and deal with the common effects of stress, including depressive disorder and anxieties. Therefore, the programs align with the psychological and psychosocial health of the victims with mental illness and other problems.
SAMHSA and Mental Health Programs
Substance abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is among the organizations which advocate for improved mental health outcomes. The organization is responsible for improving rehabilitative services to reduce disability and death from mental illness, substance abuse, and stress (McCance-Katz, 2018). The organization works under the department of US Health and Human Services. SAMHSA headquarters is centrally located in Rockville, Maryland. SAMHSA has different mental health programs, including mental health promotion and prevention program and substance abuse prevention and treatment program
Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Program (MHPPP)
The Mental Health Promotion and Prevention program is an example of a public health program from SAMHSA that focuses on two actions: promoting and preventing stress and other related issues. Mental health promotion is optimizing positive mental health stability by eliminating the social factors that cause stress (Saleen et al., 2021). The key goal of mental health promotion is to create awareness of the suitable strategies among the mentally affected. However, mental health prevention is a strategy for minimizing mental health issues such as stress before they impact the population. The program was heavily considered during the peak of COVID-19 to reduce the adverse effects of chronic stress. Therefore, the program combines mental health promotion and prevention for quality care delivery. Mental health prevention and promotion are essential since it benefits adults, youths, and adolescents, the major groups heavily impacted by mental issues.
Mental health promotion is the key aspect of the program. It is used...