As with all types of personal health, mental health plays a big role in affecting your day to day life and happiness. This will be a fairly serious and explanatory post, so if you’re looking for my usual Parks and Rec Gifs, check last week’s post on sleep deprivation.
For many reasons, people have a difficult time acknowledging that they need to rehabilitate themselves and give themselves time to heal.
There is definitely a stigma around mental health that just doesn’t exist around all other types of personal health; you can tell people with ease that you can’t go for a run because you have a hurt ankle, but you find it harder to say you couldn’t complete an assignment because you had an anxiety attack the night before. Physical therapy as well as regular therapy are both helping you help yourself get better, yet one is viewed as someone enduring through pain and the other is viewed as for crazy people. If you want to take part in a movement to help stop the stigma, sign the StigmaFree Pledge here.
Before we can fix this stigma, I think we need to a better job of teaching about mental health to kids so that they grow up with a better understanding of what having a good mental health means, and can help recognize signs of when others potentially need help.
Being able to identify the characteristics of good mental health is a great way to start. The Mental Health Foundation states the following on their official website:
“Good mental health is characterized by a person’s ability to fulfill a number of key functions and activities, including:
- The ability to learn
- The ability to feel, express and manage a range of positive and negative emotions
- The ability to form and maintain good relationships with others
- The ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty
Your mental health doesn’t always stay the same. It can change as circumstances change and as you move through different stages of your life.”
It goes without saying that having a healthy body can lead to a healthy mind, and that by eating good foods and working out every once in a while you create positive endorphins (as I’ve talked before and all that jazz), but there are also steps you can take for mental health as well. You can begin to improve your mental health today by trying some of these “connecting” habits, which work on establishing better relationships with friends and family. Psychology Today’s author Nancy S. Buck Ph.D. lists the following as “connecting” habits to try: Caring, Listening, Supporting, Encouraging, Respecting, Befriending, Trusting and Accepting. You should attempt to stop yourself if you find yourself constantly doing disconnecting habits: Nagging, Withdrawing, Blaming, Punishing and Complaining.
I know they seem cheesy, but focusing on a goal can be really helpful for those struggling to make meaningful relationships with those around them. If these steps helping you connect with others don’t work for you, there are many other things you can try. College can be very lonely, and if you’re not a fan of yourself, it won’t be a fun time for you.
People are afraid to admit they need help, but I’m far more afraid of what will happen if they don’t go out and actively get the help they need. Your mind can get sick just like your body can, and it needs time to rehabilitate. At Penn State we are lucky to have many programs in place that are available, such as CAPS: Counseling and Psychological Services, but many people won’t use these services because they’re scared of what others will think.
If you need help and don’t have anyone to turn to, please consider therapy because it can be super beneficial to just talk to someone and have someone actively listen! Needing help is completely normal and getting help is brave.
Sources
Mental Health: How can we help ourselves?
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