How Are You Really?

Recognising Difficulties With Mental Health and Helping People To Reach Out

Mental health. It is as important as our physical health and affects how we think, feel and act. It can contribute to how we cope with daily stress, relationships and how we make choices. Good mental well-being can help us realise our full potential, feel motivated and productive, cope well with stress and have fulfilling and meaningful relationships with people around us and the wider community.

While there is still a certain stigma surrounding mental health, one in four people will be affected by a mental health difficulty at some point in their lives. That means 450 million people are currently struggling with what is now the most leading cause of ill health worldwide. This crisis could be attributed to our lifestyles being less conducive to good mental health – there is more poverty and unemployment, and parents or carers are working longer hours which massively affects family time and can take away from happy or creative space.

It is important to remember that it is normal to have challenging and difficult times and certain factors affect how we deal with challenges. These include upbringing, life experience or genetics. And some challenges that we may encounter throughout our lives which can affect our mental health include relationships, money and work, life changes, health issues, traumatic life events or drug misuse.

2020 will always be remembered as the year of the global pandemic, a year of uncertainty, pain and grief. But it will also be remembered as the year where we came together as a society, where we stopped and took check on how we live our lives and those around us. We took the time to show kindness and support to ourselves and each other and for many people, realised what is important and what to bring with us into 2021.

Showing support to those around us may look like seeing the signs of struggling from a loved one. These may look like this;

• Feeling isolated and social withdrawal.

• Ongoing sadness or irritability.

• Extreme mood changes.

• Feeling sad, worried or anxious.

• Changes in eating or sleeping pattern.

• Not finding joy or excitement in things.

And as January is a typically dreary month it is important to remember to look out for the mental well-being of our loved ones, as well as our own moving into the new year.

How can you help?

• Set aside a time when you can be truly present and in a safe space to talk.

• Practise active listening and ask open ended questions. Allow pauses and let them lead the discussion.

• Don’t try to diagnose. Leave that to the professionals!

• Share some tips on how they could practise self-care (see below).

• Offer them help in seeking professional help and offer to go with them to any appointments.

Sharing (and even practising yourself) little changes in routine and introducing new habits can really help the mood and these tips may help bring joy into your life and those around you.

• Control the controllable – focus on things that you can control and accept the things you cannot. For example, reading the news may have a negative effect on your brain so choose which media you follow and read.

• Reach out to others, stay connected – helping someone will bring joy to them and you!

• Give thanks – start a gratitude journal, take the time for you and your thoughts daily and remember little acts of kindness that have been done for you.

• Be kind to yourself. And do not believe everything you think. If a negative thought pattern appears write the thoughts down and analyse logically.

As we are all aware, it can feel like the easiest thing to do is to just ignore it and hope the feelings of despair or loneliness will pass but this can make things much worse. Allow them to know that you are there for them because you care, talking about their thoughts and feelings can really unpack any issues and help them to move forward to help them reduce stress, improve mood, self-esteem and happiness.

And remember, there is light at the end of every tunnel. Hope and joy will return and this too, will pass. It is possible. Get in touch to know more.