Chronic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes may make you more likely to have or develop a mental health condition.

It is common to feel sad or discouraged after having a heart attack, receiving a cancer diagnosis, or when trying to manage a chronic condition such as pain. You may be facing new limits on what you can do and may feel stressed or concerned about treatment outcomes and the future. It may be hard to adapt to a new reality and to cope with the changes and ongoing treatment that come with diagnosis. Favorite activities like hiking or gardening, may be harder to do.

Temporary feelings of sadness are expected, but if these and other symptoms last longer than a couple of weeks, you may have depression. Depression affects your ability to carry on with daily life and enjoy family, friends, work, and leisure.

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. It can make it a struggle to work, keep up with school, stick to a regular schedule, have healthy relationships, socialize, maintain hygiene, and more.

Not sure if you or someone you know is living with mental health problems? Experiencing one or more of the following feelings or behaviors can be an early warning sign of a problem:

• Eating or sleeping too much or too little
• Pulling away from people and usual activities
• Having low or no energy
• Feeling numb or like nothing matters
• Having unexplained aches and pains
• Feeling helpless or hopeless
• Smoking, drinking, or using drugs.
• Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared.
• Yelling or fighting with family and friends
• Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships.
• Having persistent thoughts and memories you can’t get out of your head.
• Hearing voices or believing things that are not true.
• Thinking of harming yourself or others
• Inability to perform daily tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work or school