5 Strategies for Living with Mental Illness
On the journey to total mental illness recovery, the chances that you might experience setbacks, relapse, or even crises are very likely. These experiences are a natural part of your journey to embark on optimal mental wellbeing and lifestyle. This post acknowledges your many struggles and will help you learn how to muster strength even in the face of weakness. You will basically learn how to respond correctly when you are faced with mental health issues.
While it’s okay to wish your recovery is instant, reality begs to differ as wellness is a journey. Implementing the coping techniques you would learn here might initially be a bit tedious to pull off, but the effects will be life-changing after you get the hang of them. The strategies for coping with a mental health illness are:
- Wholesome Acceptance
Awareness is the first step to recovery. After awareness, the act of completely and totally accepting your ‘reality’ is the way to go. Putting yourself in a state where you are constantly in denial or avoidance about your mental health issues will only further drain you, preventing you from experiencing significant progress.
For example, if you have PTSD from certain events you don’t have control over, how will you ever get out of the ending loop? Bring to bear the fact that you can’t change these events. Hence, seeking help is the right step to take.
2. Don’t be led by your emotions
This technique simply encourages you to do the direct opposite of what your emotions tell you to do at that moment. This is you prioritizing logic over your emotions. Imagine how you would naturally react to certain incidents, like anger, and do the direct opposite.
3. Focus on your 5 senses
This effective way of coping with mental illness requires you to focus on what your 5 senses are experiencing at that given moment rather than your mental condition. During a breakdown, resist your mind from taking you on a mental train. Rather, consciously try to snap out of it, run through your senses, and be in the moment.
A key example is a PTSD flashback. In that instance, consciously try to snap out of it, and let your 5 senses dictate what event is happening in your environment at that time. Pick an object (grounding technique) to focus on and be present in the moment.
4. Mental Reframing
You likely have heard the phrase ‘You are what you think’. No phrase could be truer than that. Having a positive outlook on events and an ‘it’s okay to not be okay sometimes perspective will do your mental health some good.
5. Consistent therapy and medications
Seeking help from a trained and certified therapist has proven to yield results for many. Beyond that, it’s important you are patient, willing, and consistent to let your therapist walk you through. If you are willing to take this bold step, click the link.
Living with a mental health illness can sometimes be a lot to deal with. Hence, the need for using these strategies to effectively cope. Please be kind to yourself whenever relapses occur. You can use the Diary room on the Nguvu Health App to safely record, track and measure your journey.
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