Tag: Mental Health

Mental Health~ Becoming More Strong Mentally

1. Check In with Yourself

When your neighbor lets her dog bark all day long while you’re trying to work from home, it’s infuriating, for sure. But ask yourself: Why is this bothering me? Is it because you’re on deadline and feeling frustrated with yourself for procrastinating on this assignment? Are you actually concerned about the well-being of the dog? Has a past poor interaction with this neighbor bled into how you’re reacting this time?

We all have thoughts about who we are: our strengths and weaknesses, values, likes and dislikes, things that upset us. These affect the way that we respond to challenges.“It is also good to have an idea about how certain situations may affect our ‘self.’ For example, we may respond differently if we are overtired or hungry. Checking in with our Self might help us to respond more mindfully,” Volpitta says.

Related: 7 Easy Ways to Fit Self-Care Into Your Day

2. Assess the Situation

If your car gets a flat tire on the way to a job interview, it might feel like an emergency in the moment. But as frustrating as it feels, most situations likely aren’t as disastrous as they seem. Being able to diffuse a stressful scenario with the understanding that there is a way out and that maybe this will even one day make for a funny anecdote (after you calm down enough to call HR) can help.

Putting the situation in perspective—of the rest of your day, this quarter, your child’s teenage years, etc.—and being able to break the solution down into doable steps is an important part of building resilience. 

3. Consider Where to Turn for Support

When you and your partner get into a spat, you likely don’t complain to your mother-in-law. That same logic should go into whom you head for when you need help with other problems. For example, don’t confide in the office gossip when your cube-mate’s stinky lunches are driving you crazy. Going straight to the source may feel trickier but will likely get you closer to the resolution you want: “Jill, do you mind, please, eating your tuna wrap in the office kitchen?”

Likewise, thinking through which person—a friend, a pastor, your dad—will offer what you might need (advice, a supportive ear, paid therapy services) in a troubling time can help you feel more in charge of what’s happening. “So often, we think that we need to handle challenges on our own, but knowing who to go to and how to ask for help is a hallmark of resilience,” Volpitta says.

4. Identify Strategies to Cope and Move Forward

Sometimes, knowing what won’t be helpful when dealing with unfortunate incidents can help you rule out how to respond. If, for example, texting your sister an apology after your last argument made her feel like you didn’t care enough to call, pick up the phone this time. And if hitting the bar with your work posse made the last round of layoffs even more painful (especially the day after), see if anyone is up for a power walk—or a trip to that new ax-throwing joint—this time to burn off that anger.

Then think about what will be useful for moving forward: Call on those supports, for sure (see No. 3). But can you also use some planning skills to plot the next step? “Resilient people have multiple strategies,” Volpitta says. “If one strategy isn’t working, they move on and try something else. They also know that saying no or quitting is sometimes the best strategy.” So know when to cut your losses if it is appropriate for the situation.

5. Flex your Mindfulness Muscle

No, it doesn’t start with S. But, according to Volpitta, mindfulness is a truly helpful way of becoming more mentally strong. Practicing mindfulness, whether through formal practice or simply being present in the moment, gives our brains the chance to best determine how to respond and strengthen those resilient pathways. Consider these 10 little ways to practice mindfulness every day.

The 4 Ss—self, situation, supports, and strategies—can be powerful tools to build your brain’s emotional resilience factor. The missing S? Start now.

Gardening And Mental Health

Jaime Calder and her daughters plant some squash in her vegetable garden in Round Rock, Texas, in April.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-to-start-gardening-and-why-it-s-good-for-your-mental-health/ar-BB13xzPz?ocid=msedgdhp

People are starting vegetable gardens big and small, including a plethora of backyard plots and windowsill herbs.

Some plant lovers are engaged in community gardens where they work in timed shifts, maintaining proper distance while wearing masks and cleansing tools for the next use.

As people sheltering in place take up hobbies and start projects to fill the time during the coronavirus pandemic, gardening is blooming.

Caring for a garden can be a respite from the horrors of the pandemic, as it serves several natural desires related to accomplishment, community and belonging and staying connected with nature.

It can get partners and the whole family outside, happily bonding while doing an activity together.

It can also help to alleviate food insecurity as some incomes dwindle and concerns about the food supply grow.

“There’s just a greater cohesiveness within the family unit that occurs outside with your hands in the dirt,” said Charlie Hall, professor and Ellison Chair of the department of horticultural sciences at Texas A&M University.

“There’s not as much eye-rolling when teenagers are told to do something, not as much fighting between siblings. There’s fewer harsh words between spouses.”

Fulfilling human needs

Getting your hands in the dirt keeps you connected to nature while we’re staying indoors more these days. The orderliness gardening requires, with its rules and rows, can carry over into the manageability of other life tasks, Hall said. And the calmness of the activity may relieve some pent-up frustrations.

“Your cortisol levels go down dramatically when you’re in the midst of gardening,” Hall said. “And cortisol is the stress hormone in your body, so you’re less stressed.”

There’s a risk-reward ratio inherent in gardening. You have to learn to balance weather that may thwart your efforts. But that experience bears sweet tomatoes or refreshing cucumbers — offering a tangible sense of accomplishment when we’re floundering around, looking for something to focus our minds.

“You’re able to see the fruit of that effort,” Hall said. “That’s a teachable moment in people’s lives.”

And gardening may have a fitting philosophical lesson for us during this time.

“Sometimes pruning occurs,” Hall said. “That’s where the [correction in times of stress comes from]. You prune a plant so that it’s even healthier when it comes out from its pruning.”

As plants need water, fertilizer and sunlight to grow, we’re nurtured by challenge and engagement with things we enjoy, Hall added. And when plants grow so well they outgrow the space in which they’re needed, gardeners must replant them in a different space where they have the room to thrive.

“People move up into bigger areas of responsibility during their careers. There’s all kinds of metaphors that come out of gardening and how it applies to everyday life,” Hall said. “Sometimes you have to be transplanted into areas where you could grow even further.”

Good for your overall health

Gardening can be a coping mechanism during this unsettling stage of life, but it also comes with benefits for your physical and mental health.

One study found gardening, among other leisurely activities, may prevent brain shrinkage in older adults. Our cognitive abilities, including learning and memory, largely depend on the size of our brains.

Gardening has also been connected with mindfulness and alleviation of depressive symptoms. It’s a mild form of activity offering respite from staring at your screen all day. And it can improve hand-eye coordination and finger flexion — the ability to bend your joints — that carries over to everyday life.

How to start a home garden

May is not too late to start a garden. Here’s how to begin a vegetable garden for beginners, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, a print and online periodical providing planting charts for gardeners, sky schedules, weather forecasts and recipes since 1792.

Pick the right spot. Choosing a suitable location is important because it affects the quality of the vegetables, the guide says. Most vegetables need at least six hours of sunlight daily, so pick a sunny location.

If you’re not buying soil, you should have the soil in your yard tested for lead. Lead contamination is common in urban areas due to years of industrial development and pollution from manmade toxins, according to Garden Collage Magazine. If your vegetables are contaminated from the soil, that could mean lead poisoning for you or any pets roaming around. You can have your soil assessed by sending several samples to a testing site for a low cost.

Plant the vegetables in damp, not totally saturated, soil. If you have soil that doesn’t drain well, plant vegetables in a pot that’s raised from the ground. You should also garden in a place where your plants can remain stable — exposure to strong winds, floods or constant foot traffic could damage your plants.

Choose a plot size. Beginners should start small, considering what they can handle and what they’ll actually eat, the guide suggests. The size it recommends is 11 rows wide, each 10 feet long. But this guideline is to feed a family of four through an entire summer, so feel free to downsize if it’s just you.

Make sure there’s enough space between each row to be able to easily walk through to weed and harvest your plants. The rows shouldn’t be more than 4 feet wide, as you probably won’t be able to reach over a bigger width to care for the vegetables.

Select your vegetables (or any other produce). There are several vegetables that are common and easy to grow: tomatoes, radishes, chard, zucchini squash, peppers, cabbage, lettuce and carrots. Also consider what you like to eat, and again, how much you’re likely to consume. Here’s a guide to figuring out which vegetables grow best in your state.

You could buy individual starter plants or opt to start from scratch with seeds. But the seeds should be high quality, the guide says, so your money isn’t wasted if the seeds don’t germinate. The almanac recommends buying seeds from a plant nursery; you can order them online, too.

Decide where and when to plant. Planting one or two vegetables doesn’t require much strategic planning. But if you’re growing a whole garden, you’ll have to think about where each vegetable will go and when it needs to be planted.

Some vegetables, such as lettuce and root vegetables, grow in the spring. Others, including tomatoes and peppers, should be planted in the warmer months.

Plant taller vegetables on the north side of your garden so they don’t shade shorter plants. Check to see whether the information along with your plant says it needs a permanent bed.

Lastly, stagger your plantings. Don’t plant all your seeds at one time, or you’ll have a vegetable bounty that needs to be harvested and consumed in a tight time window. If you stagger your plantings, you’ll have a steady supply of food coming in.

Mental Health Fact and Myths

Myth: Children don’t experience mental health problems.

Fact: Even young children may show early warning signs of mental health concerns. These mental health problems are often clinically diagnosable and can be a product of the interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors.

Half of all mental health disorders show first signs before a person turns 14 years old, and three quarters of mental health disorders begin before age 24.

Unfortunately, less than 20% of children and adolescents with diagnosable mental health problems receive the treatment they need. Early mental health support can help a child before problems interfere with other developmental needs.

https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/mental-health-myths-facts

Myth: People with mental health problems are violent and unpredictable.

Fact: Most people with mental health problems are no more likely to be violent than anyone else. Most people with mental illness are not violent and only 3%–5% of violent acts can be attributed to individuals living with a serious mental illness. In fact, people with severe mental illnesses are over 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population. You probably know someone with a mental health problem and don’t even realize it, because many people with mental health problems are highly active and productive members of our communities.

Letting Go Of Some Things , Is A Good Thing

Most people kick off January by creating resolutions that drastically aim to add healthy habits to their daily lives (which doesn’t always work, by the way ― and that’s OK). But sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is to let some things go instead.

a person sitting on a table

© Carlina Teteris via Getty Images

“The new year offers a fresh opportunity, while the weight of the past keeps us in a place of inaction,” said Olecia Christie, a certified life coach and owner of Optix Communications in San Antonio, noting that it’s important to discern when to release the things that no longer serve our own growth and happiness. 

With that in mind, here are a few things you should consider leaving behind in the new year, according to Christie and other experts:

Comparing your life to others’ on Instagram

In this era of social media, it always appears that everyone is living their best life — that is, everyone except you. Ibinye Osibodu-Onyali, a licensed marriage and family therapist at The Zinnia Practice in California, said you should remember that social media is a highlight reel. Comparing your daily life to a single picture capturing a perfect moment isn’t the best use of your time.

Instead, Osibodu-Onyali suggested engaging with the people you admire in 2020.

“Rather than spending so many hours per week scrolling mindlessly, begin to actually connect with people you admire on social media. Send them a DM, ask for advice, seek out actual mentorship,” she said. “You’ll be surprised how many new friends you will acquire just by reaching out, rather than being a jealous onlooker.”

Letting fear hold you back from something you want to do

Anthony Freire, the clinical director and founder of The Soho Center for Mental Health Counseling in New York, said in order to release fear, shame and guilt, you must first “shine a spotlight” on them.

“On your deathbed, you don’t want to be kicking yourself for not having completed your bucket list for any reason, but especially because of feelings like guilt, fear and shame — which are only problematic feelings because you’ve told yourself that you should feel that way,” he said.

Worrying about things you cannot control

a man sitting in a chair talking on a cell phone

© Westend61 via Getty Images

It’s unrealistic to suggest giving up worry or stress entirely ― these feelings are a normal part of life. Instead, try to focus just on the worries you can take action on.

“Focus your thoughts on things you can change. When you have a list of worry thoughts, write out what you can change and what you can’t. Work on the situation that you can change, and just release the rest. It takes a lot of time and practice to learn this skill, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll find that you’ll worry less,” Osibodu-Onyali explained.

For some, this is easier said than done. If you find that you’re unable to manage your excessive worrying ― especially over things out of your control ― it might be worth seeking advice from a professional. This could be a sign of an anxiety disorder, which is a very real and common condition.

Old grudges or grievances

Research shows holding onto a grudge or anger for longer than necessary can be toxic for your physical and mental health. Right now is the perfect opportunity to work on letting go of some old baggage “by either working on repairing strained relationships or closing the chapter on relationships that cannot be salvaged,” Osibodu-Onyali said.

This doesn’t apply to people who have severely damaged or hurt you, but could be useful for someone you’ve grown distant with or just no longer envision as a healthy part of your life. You can either choose to move forward or let go.

“Although saying goodbye to a relationship can be tough, the closure can be very freeing,” Osibodu-Onyali said.

What other people think of you

a group of people standing in a room

© Thomas Barwick via Getty Images

There’s a saying that goes “what other people think of you is none of your business.” It’s important to know what your values are and to be grounded in them, so that you’re not swayed by the thoughts of others. Osibodu-Onyali said she often challenges her clients by asking: “So what if they don’t like you? What happens next?” She said more often than not, the answer is usually “nothing.”

“The truth is that the world doesn’t end and you don’t have to be liked by everyone,” she said. “Stick to your core group of supporters who truly love and respect you, and don’t spend time worrying about the people who don’t quite get you. If they don’t get you, that’s OK. You can’t be a part of every group.”

The need to be right in every conflict

We’ve all strived to win arguments; however, that can cause more stress than it’s worth. Freire said letting go of the need to win “takes up enormous energy because people tend to want to be right.”

“How many times do we fight with someone and we’re simply fighting to be right?” he said. “We say things we can’t take back and later we apologize and think to ourselves ‘I overreacted’ or ‘We fought over something so stupid.’ Sometimes we don’t even remember why we were fighting to begin with. Sometimes trivial things we get stuck on are just smaller manifestations of larger underlying issues.”

These kinds of interactions can often lead to “negative self-talk and anxiety as [we] overanalyze the situation and stress about the impact of the interaction,” according to Elise Hall, a licensed and independent clinical social worker in Massachusetts.

Instead, try looking at a fight as a problem to be solved (experts say there’s one phrase that can easily help you do this with a partner). This can help you let go of the need to be right and put your focus on a solution.

This all might be challenging, but it could be worth it to increase your joy — even just by a fraction.

Continue reading Letting Go Of Some Things , Is A Good Thing

Things You Should Know~ Mental Health

Here are nine things you should know about issues related to mental health:

1.  Nearly 1-in-5 Americans over age 18 will experience a diagnosable mental health disorder in a given year, and nearly half (46.4 percent) will experience a mental health disorder in their lifetime,

2.  Approximately 70 percent of Americans experience physical and non-physical symptoms of stress, but only 37 percent think they are doing very well at managing stress

3. There are a wide variety of anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and specific phobias, etc. Collectively they are among the most common mental disorders experienced by Americans, affecting 18.1 of the U.S. adult population. 22.8 percent of these cases (4.1 percent of the population) are considered severe. The average age of onset for anxiety disorders is 11 years old.

4. Women are 60 percent more likely than men to experience an anxiety disorder. Non-Hispanic blacks are 20 percent less likely, and Hispanic men are 30 percent less likely, than non-Hispanic whites to experience an anxiety disorder during their lifetime.

5. Neuropsychiatric disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S., followed by cardiovascular and circulatory diseases and neoplasms. The neuropsychiatric disorders category includes mental and behavioral disorders, which account for 13.6 percent of total U.S. DALYs; and neurological disorders, which account for 5.1 percent of total U.S. DALYs. (DALYs represent the total number of years lost to illness, disability, or premature death within a given population.)

6. Approximately 3.5 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with schizophrenia, one of the leading causes of disability. Three-quarters of persons with schizophrenia develop the illness between the ages of 16 and 25. Studies have indicated that 25 percent of those having schizophrenia recover completely, 50 percent are improved over a 10-year period, and 25 percent do not improve over time. Treatment and other economic costs due to schizophrenia are estimated between $32.5 and $65 billion annually.

7. Throughout the world, more than 800,000 people die by suicide every year—around one person every 40 seconds. Currently, only 28 countries are known to have national suicide prevention strategies.

8. Most Protestant senior pastors (66 percent) seldom speak to their congregation about mental illness, according to a study by LifeWay Research. That includes almost half (49 percent) who rarely (39 percent) or never (10 percent), speak about mental illness. About 1 in 6 pastors (16 percent) speak about mental illness once a year. And about quarter of pastors (22 percent) are reluctant to help those who suffer from acute mental illness because it takes too much time.

9. When researchers asked those with mental illness about their experience in church 10 percent said they’ve changed churches because of how a particular church responded to their mental illness. Another 13 percent either stopped attending church (8 percent) or could not find a church (5 percent). More than a third, 37 percent, answered, “don’t know,” when asked how their church’s reaction to their illness affected them. Over half, 53 percent, say their church has been supportive while about thirteen percent say their church was not supportive.

Mental Health Holiday Tips

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