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Who can be affected by mental ill health?

Well, the simple answer is anyone and everyone. Anyone of us can experience mental ill health. I think the official statistic is one in four others. At some point in our lives, we will be affected by a mental health issue, either ourselves or someone who is close to us.

What are some of the common triggers for mental ill health?

It seems to be something happening that you cannot cope with as well as you do normally. It could be something like depression or anxiety. They are two very big triggers. Or it could be a more day-to-day thing; a change of job, a change of location, a bereavement, a relationship issue, a realization that you may be focusing on irrational thoughts or phobia, something like that. It's just something that you feel you are not coping with it as well as you could do and it's a realization of that, that hopefully would lead you to seek help and support. But some people do cut for a very long time on their own with it, thinking that there either isn't any help or it's hopeless, there's nothing can be done.

There were a lot of people... Are they in denial?

Yes. Yes, I think that is probably the term they would use for it. That only means that they are not acknowledging that it's existing and the acknowledgement itself can be quite stressful. Stress, of course, is a major player in all of this, but that has many different definitions as well. There may be workplace stress, relationship stress or an event that has happened, something that has changed, something that has brought you to a realization that you are not coping as well as you might.

If there's a history of mental ill health in the family, does that mean that someone is more likely to experience mental ill health themselves?

Not necessarily. I think if someone has grown up with mental health around them, they may have normalized that this is how life is and be unaware that there's a different way of life, but I certainly don't think it's a given that if there is mental ill health in the family, it can follow on and you will automatically experience it.