Celebrate World Mental Health Day

Celebrate World Mental Health Day

October 10^th is World Mental Health Day! To celebrate we are spreading the word about proactive mental health care. Historically, Americans approach health care reactively, despite nearly 60 million adults experiencing a mental health issue in the past year.

Reactive health care focuses on treating a problem. That means a problem must develop before we address it. But health care can include multiple self-care activities intended to prevent problems from occurring.

Washing your hands is health care, so is taking appropriate vitamins, drinking water, eating healthy, and scheduling annual exams. All these activities are proactive health care. We can improve our health through lifestyle changes and avoid drastic intervention—which can be costly and painful. Although we might not always think of these things as health care, many of us understand and incorporate healthy lifestyle habits. But proactive mental health care is less understood and embraced.

In general, you can’t prevent major mental health conditions. There is no lifestyle change that can prevent schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder. But there are a lot of proactive care that can help keep symptoms under control.

Additionally, proactive mental health care can prevent poor mental health outside of mental illnesses.

Self-Care Practices

Proactive mental health care means incorporating intentional self-care activities. There are some universal self-care practices that have been shown to help pretty much everyone:

• Having a good sleep routine
• Limiting media intake and screen time
• Moving your body regularly
• Having a support system

There are also self-care practices that will be more personalized to your life. For example, having some sort of relaxation practice can help a lot! But that relaxation practice depends on what works for you—sitting in nature? Yoga? Deep breathing? Massages? There are multiple options! Managing stress is another critical and on-going practice to incorporate, and there are many ways to approach stress management. Practicing CBT-based exercises, practicing time management strategies, and having firm boundaries are all different ways to help manage stress.

Lastly, consider incorporating occasional coaching and counseling to review lifestyle skills and discuss minor problems before they reach a crisis level. Getting professional care helps make you stronger and healthier. For more information on proactive care, check out this blog. Let’s remember to take some time for ourselves, and check in with friends and loved ones to celebrate World Mental Health Day. Together, we can foster a community of proactive mental health care.