While mental health is just as important as physical health, it is common for people to put it on the back burner when dealing with everything else in life. Fortunately, there are many ways to start prioritizing your mental health with professional care when it starts to plummet. Whether the problem lies in a mental disorder or a rough patch, learning healthy coping skills can help promote better mental health as you move forward in treatment.
Healthy coping skills and methods are most effective as part of a professional mental health treatment plan. It takes time for treatment to produce results, and these skills often help patients improve their mental health faster. Here are some of the most common coping methods psychiatrists and other professionals recommend:
It is normal to get wrapped up in treatment and forget about life outside of it. Thus, mental health providers often highlight the importance of taking time for oneself now and then. This can be anything from a hobby to relaxing with a movie. Alternatively, people can spend time doing important self-care, such as showering, exercising by walking, or scheduling activities in one’s week. It may even mean cooking a nutritious meal.
This is all the more important for patients who cope with mental health problems by keeping their schedules packed. While staying busy is helpful in some respects, it can be a way to avoid feelings and, ultimately, delay processing them. Learning how to be alone with one’s thoughts is an important skill — and one that a mental health professional can assist with.
Often, mental health problems are exacerbated by isolation or feeling as though one has no one to talk to. Therefore, mental health professionals encourage patients to reach out to loved ones when possible. This may feel awkward at first, but many are pleasantly surprised by how willing loved ones are to help in times of trouble.
Many patients prefer not to open up about their struggles to their loved ones. These patients may be relieved to hear that reaching out to loved ones is not intended to replace a therapy session, as it cannot compare to professional treatment. The point of talking to loved ones is to combat isolation. As such, it can even help to reach out and talk about a different topic, such as sports, movies, or what is going on in the loved one’s life.
This tip can help patients who struggle with matters that cannot be changed, such as the loss of a loved one or being diagnosed with a chronic mental disorder. Practicing radical acceptance means accepting the situation for what it is and admitting that you cannot change it. You can, however, change how you respond to it, such as by using healthy coping mechanisms instead of unhelpful or defeatist ones.
A psychiatrist may recommend practicing radical acceptance as part of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). This therapeutic model involves identifying self-destructive behaviors and replacing them with helpful behaviors, like emotional regulation, to improve quality of life. That said, radical acceptance is not isolated to DBT. Patients can learn to practice it by accepting that they are struggling with a mental health problem and then acting to address it. Talking to a psychiatrist regularly is often the next step.
The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) recommends trying emotion awareness, the practice of radically accepting emotions and then working to alleviate them during tough times. Addressing anger may mean listening to calming music or meditating, and sadness may be improved by watching a feel-good or comfort movie. Although these may seem like short-term solutions, they can still help.
However, it is sometimes necessary to acknowledge emotions and then do the opposite of what they want. Anxiety is a good example: If one is anxious about going to a party, acknowledge that but still go to the party. This technique is called opposite-to-emotion thinking. Again, this is not to say that anxiety disorders do not need professional treatment. A mental health professional can provide this treatment, as well as help patients practice opposite-to-emotion thinking.
Staying in shape and eating well are not intended as cure-alls or a replacement for professional treatment. Rather, they are known to help elevate the patient’s baseline mood. Exercise can be as simple as going for a walk every day. Good nutrition is a bit more complicated, but it generally involves eating more fruit, vegetables, and healthy proteins like fish. Drinking less alcohol and getting a healthy amount of sleep can also improve a patient’s baseline mood.
There is no shame in getting professional help. On the contrary, it requires a lot of strength to take that step. If you or a loved one has been struggling, contact our Myrtle Beach office for an appointment. We are here to help, whether that means diagnosing a mental disorder and discussing treatments or guiding patients through grief and other difficult times.
Request an appointment here: https://mb.futurepsychsolutions.com or call Future Psych Ketamine Clinics at (843) 788-9718 for an appointment in our Myrtle Beach office.
Check out what others are saying about our services on Yelp: Mental Health in Myrtle Beach, SC.
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