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Mental health issues impact one in five adults in the U.S. and up to 35% of American men are struggling with some sort of mental health condition. Despite its prevalence, it seems like men are unlikely to talk about their mental health with others.

Listener Ben first realized he was struggling with mental health issues roughly 10 years ago. Some big changes at work early in his career started making him feel like his life was getting out of control and unmanageable.

Ben was unaware of the extent of his trouble until his father approached him during a family dinner. He mentioned that Ben didn’t seem like the same person he used to be. This was Ben’s wake up call to seek professional help.

Ben’s entry into mental health services came through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that was included in his insurance plan. He learned that the service was created to be a short-term treatment with outcome-focused results. He called the number, made an appointment, and his handle on his mental health dramatically turned around.

Kevin Curtis is a licensed clinical social worker and one of Ben’s good friends. According to Kevin, it is pretty common for people to not realize there is a problem with their mental state until someone in their lives mentions something.

It can be extremely difficult to self diagnose mental health problems. "Most people can see when other people are not doing well," says Kevin. "But they are poor at judging when they aren’t doing well themselves." Even Kevin, as a therapist, uses a mental health professional to work through his troubles. Building Your Mental Health Toolbox

Ben met with a licensed clinical therapist through the EAP program. He appreciated the objective outside perspective and the tools, techniques the therapist provided. After just a few sessions, Ben had the starting of what he calls his "Mental Health Toolbox." A set of techniques he uses to this very day.

In just a few short months Ben notes the marked improvement the therapist had on his life.

Kevin explains that it’s quite common for people to mistake mental health as something that is approached differently than physical health. When a person talks about typical physical health, they understand that there is a broad spectrum of the type of help available depending on the ailment. Primary care physician for maintenance. Specialists for specific issues. Emergency room for a crisis. But when most people think of mental health, they assume you only seek help during a crisis.

He likens this misconception to utilizing a financial planner. You don’t only go to a financial planner when you are in bankruptcy. It’s better to go to a planner before it’s an emergency so they can help set you up for success.

"It’s not what are the problems you are experiencing you want to solve," Kevin explains. It’s more a question of how could your life be better, and what are you willing to do to make it better?" How to Find Help

If you feel you could use some professional help with your mental health, Kevin shares a few avenues you can use to find care.

• Most people that are employed with insurance have some sort of EAP program included with their benefits. Reach out to your employer to find out what services are available to you.
• For people without insurance, there are plenty of low-cost counseling services and organizations available.
• Ask the licensed clinical social worker, therapist, or psychologist, if they use a "sliding scale." Many providers offer services at a cost that is relative to your financial situation. Asking that question should help you find help that won’t break the bank.

Troy received an email from a listener. Apparently this individual found a bat in the woods and played around with it. His family is now insisting he needs to go get a rabies shot, even if he wasn’t bitten. So he reached out to Dr. Madsen to ask what he should do.

Short answer: Better safe than sorry. There is no treatment for rabies, only a preventative shot. The series of shots are not the terrible ones you may have heard of that go into the stomach. The rabies vaccine goes right in the arm like any other injection.

Bats should not be played with. Rabies can be passed not only from a bat bite but from their saliva as well. The chance for infection is so serious, the CDC recommends you get a rabies shot if you wake up in the same room as a bat.

Additionally, it’s smart to avoid playing with wild animals, especially ones that eat meat. These creatures can be asymptomatic carriers that can transmit the disease to humans even if they don’t show any signs. Odds and Ends

The Who Cares About Men’s Health 5K is on June 20. We encourage anyone who wants to join this virtual race and show support for Mitch as he gets closer to his goal of going from couch to 5K. The virtual race can be completed any way you’d like, whether it be running, biking, walking, skipping, whatever you can do to get in your physical activity that day.

Troy shared a photo of him and his corgi in their race bibs to show support for Mitch and his goal of running a 5k. Visit our Facebook page to get your 5k race bib. Download and print the file so you’re ready for race day. Take a photo of yourself in the bib and post them to the Who Cares Facebook page or using the hashtag #WCAMH5k to show your support. Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Troy has finally joined social media and is afraid he won’t have any friends and Scot wishes he looked as cool as his shadow does when he runs. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

Dr. Jones: Anxiety in young women is on the rise and is there any wonder why is this happening and what can we do? This is Dr. Kirtly Jones from obstetrics and gynecology at University of Utah Health Care and I'm anxious about anxiety and this is The Scope.

Announcer: Covering all aspects of women's health, this is "The Seven Domains of Women's Health" with Dr. Kirtly Jones on The Scope.

Dr. Jones: Anxiety is a very common and perhaps the most common mental health concern in the United States. About 40 million Americans have anxiety disorders and women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety than men. College health centers are seeing a dramatic increase in anxiety in their students. One recent study of 63,000 college students found that there were five times as many young adults with high levels of anxiety compared to college students in the 1930s. So are we just more aware of mental health issues? Are young women more willing to seek help and, therefore, get counted?

As the pace of life and social media increased anxiety in young women, the truth is probably all of the above, but let's drill down on some of the causes, the consequences, and what to do. Firstly, there is evidence that the way a child responds to stressors may be both genetic and epigenetic. That means there are inherited genes that can contribute to overreacting the stimulus. But these genes have been around for a long time. So why is there more anxiety now?

The epigenetic story is that genes are modified by early stressors in early fetal development and early childhood development. Moms who are exposed to high levels of stress give birth to babies that are more likely to overreact to stressors. Children who have high levels of stress in their lives, poverty, homelessness, instability in their home life, have an increased chance of having anxiety and attention problems as adolescents.

Secondly, the environment of children and young adolescents is increasingly stimulating social media which may not be very supportive, bullying in schools, TV, increasingly dramatic news coverage, and video games that are violent and stimulating can contribute to high levels of stress hormones. Kids are getting less sleep and consuming more caffeine than ever before. Increasing use of some stimulants for attention disorder may also increase anxiety in kids who may not be taking it appropriately.

Thirdly, there is clearly an awareness in the schools and colleges that more kids have anxiety. Giving it a name lets us count it in adolescents. An increasing availability of medications to treat anxiety allows adolescents to state care. What is the bad part of anxiety for young women? Firstly, it feels awful and limits a young woman's ability to focus on the task at hand: school or work or healthy relationships.

Secondly, young women may self-medicate with alcohol or sedating drugs like opiates or Valium-like drugs that they obtain from friends or a family medicine cabinet. Young women who self-sedate in social settings are more likely to be sexually abused or overdosed.

So what should we do? The first thing is recognition of the problem. This goes back to the RULER project for emotional intelligence. "R" is for recognize. When you feel it, understand that you've felt this way before and you've survived it before. "U" is for understand what the triggers are and if the anxiety is about something that's really dangerous or not really dangerous. Label it. When you give that feeling the correct name, you can learn about it.

Express it. "E" is for express it. Let others know how you're feeling so they can learn more and help you. And "R" is for regulate it. Okay. How do you regulate anxiety? A healthy diet with less bad fats and high-sugar carbs and less caffeine can be helpful, actually, for everything. Eat regularly in small meals. Exercise vigorously four times a week with healthy friends, if possible. Get your sleep. Yes, if you're anxious, you can't sleep. But when you're not so anxious, make sure you get the sleep your brain needs.

Get more phone-free time. Are you addicted? It's time to withdraw from the stimulus of your social media and get some exercise. Every time that little beep goes off or the little buzz in your pocket, it makes your stress hormones go up. Practice mindfulness and deep breathing. Many studies have found that these practices can be helpful for anxiety. The old saying, "just take a deep breath," comes from some basic neurobiology of stress hormones. Take that deep breath and keep doing it for several minutes.

There are many websites to help with mindfulness training and breathing techniques. There are several good websites for young women, girlshealth.gov is one here in the US. One I really like comes from Australia. jeanhailes.org.au is a website for women's health issues. The AU is the Australia part. If you Google "anxiety young women Jean Hailes," you'll get to a terrific website on symptoms and healthy self-treatments for anxiety. anxiety.jeanhailes.org.au, and click on "Young Women."

Get help. Talk therapy can give you skills to break your anxiety. You will probably always have some level of anxiety, but the goal is to give you the toolbox to tune down a level of anxiety hormones so you can live a less stressed life. If your therapist isn't able to help you get control, medication taken daily that isn't addictive can help and it's approved for adolescents. You have the power to feel better and if that isn't working, we can help.

Announcer: Have a question about a medical procedure? Want to learn more about a health condition? With over 2,000 interviews with our physicians and specialists, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find what you want to know. Check it out at TheScopeRadio.com.