On this page you are going to find helpful information about long term mental health issues and difficulties people can face in their everyday life.
Living with mental illness is not easy. It is a consistent problem without a clear solution. While treatments like medication and psychotherapy are incredibly helpful, sometimes people experiencing mental health conditions need to do more day-in and day-out to feel good or even just okay.
Some common self-help suggestions people receive are to exercise, meditate and be more present, which are helpful and work for many people. However, other proven methods are not mentioned as often. Many of them are quick and simple techniques that can easily be added to daily routines.
Finding the right coping mechanism takes time and patience, but it can enormously impact how you feel. If you have not had success with techniques you have tried, or you have looking to add a few more to your toolkit, here are seven tips you can try to cope with long term mental health difficulties.
Radical acceptance is completely accepting something from the depths of your soul, with your heart and your mind. It means that no matter what, you cannot change a situation. For example, imagine a tornado is coming your way. Obviously, you cannot do anything to stop the tornado. But if you accept the fact that it is coming, then you can act, prepare and keep yourself safe. If you sit around trying to will the tornado to stop or pretend that there is no tornado, you are going to be in real trouble when it comes.
The same applies to mental illness. You cannot change the fact that you have a mental illness, so any time you spend trying to get rid of it, or pretend it does not exist is only draining you of valuable energy. Accept yourself. Accept your condition. Then take the necessary steps to take care of yourself.
Opposite-to-emotion thinking is how it sounds: You act in the opposite way your emotions tell you to act. Say you are feeling upset and you have the urge to isolate. Opposite-to-emotion tells you to go out and be around people - the opposite action of isolation. When you feel anxious, combat that with something calming like meditation. When you feel manic, turn to something that stabilizes you. This technique is probably one of the hardest to put into play, but if you can manage it, the results are incredible.
Instead of focusing on a specific object, with The 5 Senses you run through what each of your senses is experiencing in that moment. As an example, imagine a PTSD flashback comes on in the middle of class. Stop! Look around you. Feel the chair beneath you. Focus on what your teacher is saying. Smell the faint aroma of the chalkboard. Chew a piece of gum.
Running through your senses will take only a few seconds and will help keep you present and focused on what is real, on what is happening right now.
Mental reframing involves taking an emotion or stressor and thinking of it in a different way. Take, for example, getting stuck in traffic. Sure, you could think to yourself, ”Wow, my life is horrible. I am 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 will still get to where I am going. There is nothing I can do about it, so I will just listen to music or an audiobook to pass the time.” Perfecting this technique can literally change your perspective in tough situations. But as you might imagine, this skill takes time and practice