Helping Yourself
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Here are some techniques to help get you through a battle with mental health
Facing a mental health issue is not easy, and while therapy and medication can be very helpful, they aren't always day in, day out solutions. Although it takes time and patience, finding the right coping mechanisms for you is very important. While exercising and meditation are often suggested, there are many other coping methods less mentioned. If you are facing severe issues and feel like you need more help than these simple steps, visit the two links below to receive help from someone who you can talk to.
If you need someone to talk to and feel you cannot go to anyone close to
you or feel like you have no future, visit one of the helplines by clicking here:
Sometimes, when people face a mental health issue, they can deny it or feel uncomfortable accepting, that is why this first step is very important.
Radical acceptance
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This is “completely and totally accepting something from the depths of your soul, with your heart and your mind,” - Marsha Linehan (creator of dialectical behavior therapy). No matter what you do you won't be able to change your situation or what you are facing. Trying to stop it or pretend it doesn't exist will only drain you. You must accept yourself and your situation to then take the steps needed to care for yourself.
Then the next step is to learn deep breathing
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breathing has been spoken about so much when it comes to these things, but that is because it is so important, it is the best way to soothe anxiety. Always remember the 3, 5, 7 rule.
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Breathe in for 5 seconds
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Hold the breath for 3 seconds
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Breathe out for 7 seconds
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If you do this deep breathing, it is like sending a message to your brain saying that everything is going to be okay.
The 5 senses
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This is a technique which will ground you if you have an attack or get lost in your head. This technique works with you using what is around you to ground you and help you separate reality from what is happening in your head.
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Look around, what do you see? What can you hear? What can you feel?
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Use these prompts to bring yourself back into the room and focus on what is real.
Mental Reframing
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This skill, of changing your perspective in moments of difficulty or sadness, is very difficult but results in a big step forward for your mental health.
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Use this example from the National Alliance of Mental Health (NAMI) https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/January-2019 “Take, for example, getting stuck in traffic. Sure, you could think to yourself, “Wow, my life is horrible. I’m going to be late because of this traffic. Why does this always happen to me?” Or you can reframe that thought, which might look something like, “This traffic is bad, but I’ll still get to where I’m going. There’s nothing I can do about it, so I’ll just listen to music or an audiobook to pass the time.”
Finally, one last technique, even more sophisticated than mental reframing is opposite-to-emotion thinking
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opposite-to-emotion thinking is exactly the same as what you would imagine. do the opposite of what your emotional brain tells you to do. If facing a mental health issue and your brain tells you to be alone and to isolate yourself, go outside, see people.
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This step and technique is one of the trickiest to manage and to perfect on a daily basis, but once you master the art of opposite-to-emotion thinking, the changes you notice will be amazing.
