Mental health is how you feel emotionally and psychologically, as well as your ability to handle stress, control your emotions and make decisions. It’s a lot like your physical health — it can have periods of positive, bright energy and days that are darker or harder to deal with. Taking care of your mental health takes practice and support from loved ones.

Like any illness, mental disorders affect everyone differently. However, it’s important to recognize that there are things you can do to help. If you think that you have a mental health condition, talk to your healthcare provider and get treatment. Talk therapy (also called psychotherapy) and medicines can treat many mental illnesses.

In addition, a variety of community organizations and nonprofits provide free, confidential resources for people with mental health issues and their families. These include a range of hotlines, such as the Jed Foundation’s LawLifeline and UCLA’s School Mental Health Project, which compiles tools, research and publications for students.

The prevalence of mental disorders varies widely across communities, and a significant portion of those who suffer from mental illness live with comorbidity – a combination of more than one mental disorder. This makes it important to address the needs of individuals living with mental illness, and to understand that people from different backgrounds may have different experiences when seeking services.

Access to care and treatments varies by region and country, with lower-income countries often spending a small percentage of their already diminished public health budgets on mental health. This may explain why high levels of unmet need persist worldwide, as described by WHO’s Project Atlas.