Emotions

Seek help for your mental health

Even people with good emotional health may have emotional problems or even mental illness. Mental illness includes mental disorders of thought, mood or behavior. People with a mental illness may have great difficulty with daily routines and tasks, responsibilities of family, work, or school or personal relationships.

People with mental or emotional disorders often:

• Feel depressed or sad for several weeks or more
• Think about or attempt suicide
• Experience extreme mood swings
• Feel helpless or hopeless
• Feel that life is out of control
• Have sudden feelings of panic
• May avoid certain common situations because of excessive fearfulness
• Need to carry out unnecessary tasks repetitively
• Are unable to maintain close relationships
• Drink excessively or use illegal drugs
• Are unable to stop destructive behavior, such as gambling
• See, hear, or experience imaginary things
• Threaten violence or become aggressive and violent

If you have any of the symptoms of mental illness, call your health care provider or a mental health professional.

Have a conversation with yourself

The best thing to do is to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with yourself. Be really honest. Go deep inside. Try to figure out what is causing you pain. Losing a loved one, a home or a way of life can be very hurtful. But, at some point, you should be able to deal with the loss and move on. If you’re unable to do that, there may be something else behind your pain.

Write it down

Dr. James Pennebaker, author of Opening Up recommends you express yourself through a little writing.

He’s shown that writing about losses can help change a person’s life and better their health. Here’s how to do it:

• Find a quiet place where you can be alone.
• Write for at least 20 minutes.
• Write for four days in a row.
• Don’t worry about making mistakes.
• Write for you, no one else needs to see this.
• Write down how you really feel.
• If it’s too soon after a painful event to write about it, wait until you can handle it.

Talk to others

Talking with family and friends might also help you get through the rough times. But if they can’t help you, you might want to reach out to your family doctor, a counselor, therapist or religious advisor.

Keep it balanced

Don’t just focus on the pain. Think about the good things in your life. And be thankful for them. Sometimes that simple act alone can help you feel better. It’s important that you also try to do things you enjoy to take your mind away from your stress.

Learn to bounce back

You have every right to feel angry or sad when something bad happens. But learning how to bounce back will help you get on with life. This doesn’t mean you “bottle it up” or “tough it out”. It means you accept and feel the pain, but keep going.

What helps?

• Having friends and family around
• Staying positive
• Accepting change
• Looking at things for what they really are

Relax – Meditation or yoga are great ways to calm your mind, body and give your emotions a rest. Ask your doctor about these or other relaxation methods.

Be good to yourself – Our minds and our bodies are linked. So, to have good emotional health, you need to take care of your body.

• Eat healthy meals
• Exercise to get rid of stress

Stay away from alcohol or drugs, which only makes things worse