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Sharing – Better Mental Health May Not Mean Exactly What You Think It Does
I will say that his discussion around what people come into therapy for in terms of defining good mental health is often an issue. When I started therapy I wanted to not dissociate, because the dissociative states were proving to be more and more dangerous. But, it wasn’t like we could sit and discuss plans to simply stop, we had to dig into what happens right before I dissociate and learn better ways of dealing with that. (In my case, stress)
Even then, the desire to simply feel less stress is not always possible. It would have solved the immediate reason why I was in therapy, less stress would make me less likely to dissociate, right? But it also wasn’t sustainable because at some point life is going to be stressful. The key was not to avoid stress but to learn how to recognize it, acknowledge it, feel it, and deal with it in a healthier way.
So yes, I agree our definition of good mental health needs to incorporate much, much more than “not feeling sad, anxious, depressed, etc.” because we will feel those things again at some point. They are unavoidable, but succumbing to them without a proper response is not. We can, and should, learn how to do that.
Some Concrete Ways You Can Support Someone Struggling With Their Mental Health
But, I will ask challenge you to go read the article because whether you give a coupon or not, the ideas are solid examples of the kinds of things you can do for someone you care about who is struggling. Often we avoid someone who we know is struggling because we are uncomfortable, not knowing what to do to help them. Well, here you go. Here are 21 things you can do. If you’re in proximity to the person, you can help them with necessary chores like laundry or grocery shopping, or simply accompany them on a walk. If you are maintaining contact with them at a distance, you can still have coffee together, offer a safe place to vent, or assist them with medicine copays. There are plenty of other ideas in the coupons and maybe just thinking about some of these examples will inspire some ideas of your own that would be appreciated by the folks you know.
What else? What can you do for the folks who need someone to simply be there and offer to help do something? Anything.
Or, what was something that someone did for you when you were struggling? What do you wish someone had done?
Feel free to share your own ideas.
Sharing – New Bilingual Materials Boost Awareness of Latino Mental Health
It’s good to know that these publications are available for anyone to download, or to order printed copies of to distribute, and given the prevalence of Spanish-speakers in the US, it’s also great that they are available in that language as well.
Sharing – 5 Amazing Benefits of Blogging about Mental Health
I’ve had people refer to me as someone who is surprisingly self-aware. I don’t really think of myself that way, but what I do know is that reading and writing about mental health topics, as well as my own experience in therapy, provides me with constant reminders about the importance of mental health, and how that information either resonates with me, or doesn’t, and why.
I don’t think our current culture really encourages that kind of behavior. We are encouraged to be busy, productive, constantly hustling and then showing it off on social media. Self-reflection? Ha! No time for that.
But there should be time for that. Without knowing ourselves, how can we even start to care for our own mental health?
Link – 75% of young people reluctant to discuss their mental health
The study was of young people, but would it be any different for other groups? “New research released by the mental health anti-stigma campaign, Time to Change, reveals that when asked, 75% of 16-24-year-olds in the East of England would tell friends and family they are ‘fine’, even if struggling with a mental health problem,…
