 At Audiology Associates of Prestonsburg, you can live your life the way you want and find the freedom of better hearing. You'll experience patient care that is specific to you with exceptional follow-up care that ensures your hearing and balance needs are being met. Audiology Associates at 1428 Northlake Drive in Prestonsburg. Following the July flooding, the Pike County Health Department took a rapid needs assessment of flood survivors. Over 20% of those surveyed saw a worsening of mental health, 41.1% experienced more than one new mental health issue and the community saw a 14% increase in major depressive disorder. I think mental health is important anytime because mental health involves how we think, feel and act. Practically everything we do involves how we think, feel and act and because it's a part of our overall health in general. Mental health is important related to the flood that we experienced in July of last year because I think a lot of people don't really recognize what is quote unquote normal or abnormal following an event like that. So it's important that people can recognize what the sign, what's normal, they can, which normalizes the experience as a whole and also to know when to be able to seek help or assistance if needed. Big Sandy HealthCare has two clinics in Pike County in addition to clinics in Floyd, McGuffin and Martin counties. They also have access to telehealth services through the University of Kentucky. Pretty typical for there to be a bit of anxiety and trepidation before accessing mental health services. I think that is more prevalent for the older generation, 60 and older than it is. The younger generations are a little more accepting and have incorporated mental health as a part of health as a whole. When people come in and actually make it into their first visit, often they reference several things. They reference the fear and guilt and which comes from the stigma of I should be able to deal with this on my own and I shouldn't feel this way. Those are a lot of the things that I hear that typically point to the presence of stigma in maybe their social circles. According to the CDC, mental illnesses are among the most common health conditions in the United States with over 50% of Americans being diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their lifetime. It's typical following a stressful event such as a natural disaster to experience some level of distress. Mostly everyone who experiences or is exposed to a traumatic event will experience distress of some form. Early after the trauma, or early after the stressful experience, it would be typical to experience anxiety, to have difficulty sleeping, nightmares, irritability, changes to behaviors such as eating habits or sleep patterns. But if that extends to say seven months later where we are now, then that's something that we may definitely want to talk to a mental health professional about. For more information and to schedule an appointment for mental health services, call 1-606-886-8546. Reporting for Mountain Top News, I'm Brianna Robinson.