When we talk about mental health, we all think of insanity, psychiatrists, pills. However, mental health goes beyond mental illness. Mental ...
Mental health has to do with personal balance, bonds in effective relationships, social integration, and development for a quality of life. This means that not being crazy does not necessarily mean that we are mentally healthy. It contains many more elements.
Mental health and its care is comprehensive personal care. Habits of physical health care such as eating, exercise influence, how you take care of your thoughts and behaviors, with what kind of people you relate to, and how you take care of your interpersonal relationships. All this and more is mental health.
Denying emotions is empowering them
When we feel bad, we tend to avoid it, avoid it, and even deny it. Even more so in a world where we are supposed to be successful and happy. This, however, increases the possibility of mental illness, since everything that is repressed tends to accumulate and later be more difficult to process.
Feeling discomfort has to do with an alert signal to be able to remedy something that we need to attend to. Sometimes it has to do with a simple need to be satisfied. It can be a simple need such as closeness and affection; It can also be a sign of a more complex need such as a change in life.
Anyway, being able to make contact with the emotions will give us a guide to what is the way to go to the solution. Otherwise, the statement that there is something to be solved is not even given.
The social system helps make you sick
Our society promotes evasion, consumption, addictions, and individualism. All of them are elements that facilitate the processes of mental illness.
For example, someone who works around the clock, even when their workday ends, is often recognized in their company. Even socially, he is classified as a committed and hard-working person. However, overwork ends with other areas of life that are also relevant.
Personal life, interpersonal relationships, recreation, even moments of silence, and solitude are vital. Someone who works 24/7 doesn't have room for these other areas. It will eventually wither, since the other elements should be considered for personal balance, for mental health.
This is just one example, but like these, there are several that make us think about behaving in an unhealthy way. It is important to take this into account to be able to discern what we must make a change in order to have a functional life without giving up mental health.
What does someone who is taking care of their mental health need
Some people, when experiencing situations like the above, enter into serious processes of detriment to their mental health, for example, they begin to have symptoms of depression. That is when they turn to professional help. However, there is still prejudice against these people, as if they were bad or dangerous. This could not be more wrong. People who take care of their mental health will learn not only to take care of themselves but of their relationships in a healthy way.
So, you could start to think differently:
- Don't judge it
People who start a process of mental health help, be it with a psychologist, psychiatrist, or both need not think they are crazy. They are not. They are taking care of their mental health.
- Don't feel sorry
Some people also think "poor thing" when they find out that someone needed professional help. It is not like this. This person is strong enough to get on with his life, and he made a decision that proves it: he asked for help when he needed it.
- Know how to withdraw on time
There are times when people have difficulties - like everyone else - and could be sensitive, or they could also be intolerant, even a little aggressive. Knowing that you are coming to help does not mean that you will stop making mistakes, and it does not mean that you should allow any of these things. Take care of these aspects too. Withdraw when you need to, explaining why you need distance.
- Support when you need it and you can
Listening, going somewhere, is something you can offer to someone who is going through a need for mental health care. This does not mean that you cannot refuse something he asks of you. It means that you can make yourself available to support him as much as you can.
Points to take care of our mental health
Caring for personal and mental health is everyone's responsibility. We tend to think that a person is "crazy" and should be secluded and isolated. Actually, we all have a bit of insanity. And the economic and social system we live in helps keep the madness going.
We can all contribute our grain of sand so that there is a better state of mental health for you and for everyone. I list below things you could do:
1 Take care of your body
Healthy body, healthy mind. And vice versa. The healthier your body is, so is your mind. And also the healthier your mind is, the healthier your body will be. Serve both. Exercise and good nutrition lead to better mental health.
2 Stay connected
When you are connected with yourself, you can take care of yourself. You can also differentiate what happens to you, or what someone else did to you. When you take responsibility for your needs and your life, you liberate others.
3 Maintain healthy positive relationships
When you interact with others in a positive and healthy way, you help others feel better about themselves as well. In addition to allowing you to feel better yourself.
4 Maintain activities that you are passionate about
Being able to do what you love helps you to live better, to enjoy your life. This helps you have a mentally positive attitude and healthy behaviors.
5 Have a life purpose
When you have a sense of life, you can face adversity with greater strength.
6 See what there is
Life is full of contrasts. There is no light without darkness. There is no day without night. Likewise, there are no times when there is no adversity without some positive things. Try to see the big picture.
And you, what else do you do to take care of your mental health?
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