You’ve been down before — who hasn’t? — but this time those feelings of sadness and listlessness won’t budge. Or maybe your mind keeps spinning dire scenarios, causing your heart to race and palms to sweat. Things you used to love, like going out with friends, either bring you no joy or now seem positively aversive. What gives?
When you’re experiencing what might be depression, anxiety, or any other mental health issue, you need to seek help. Just as you wouldn’t neglect a case of bronchitis, don’t ignore a mental health condition. Mental health is as important as any other aspect of your overall wellness and should be promptly addressed like any other medical issue.
When you know it’s time to take action and do something about your mental health, though, where do you start? Here are the first three steps you should take when seeking help for your mental health.
1. Consult a Professional
When you’re unable to handle the stresses of life on your own, it’s time to reach out for help. The best thing to do during this early stage is to find the right person to speak with. A licensed therapist, psychiatrist, or other mental health professional will be able to diagnose you, offer guidance, and get you the assistance you need. In many — possibly most — cases, you might only need weekly therapy sessions to process your emotions and develop useful coping skills. If your symptoms are more severe, though, your counselor may recommend mental health rehab.
To find the best mental health professional for you, start by asking your primary care physician for a referral. Alternatively, you may have friends or family members who can recommend a therapist who has helped them address mental health concerns of their own. If you’re unsure whom you should speak with, browse an online directory to find mental health specialists near you. You can filter by preferred specialty or in-person vs. telemedicine appointments. You can also read reviews from other verified patients and find providers who are in-network with your insurance.
Ideally, you’ll find a good therapeutic match on your first try. If not, don’t give up until you do. Having confidence in the person who you’re speaking with about your mental health concerns is paramount. The last thing you want is to feel uncomfortable with your therapist or get a treatment plan that is less than helpful.
2. Consider Medication
Talking through your concerns with a professional can be a vital component of any mental health treatment regimen. But if your brain chemistry is working against you, it’s like battling your mental health woes with one hand tied behind your back. That’s why many types of depression and cases of anxiety are treated with prescription medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
Serotonin is one of the chief neurotransmitters that pass messages between your brain’s nerve cells. Often called the body’s “feel-good” chemical, serotonin enables you to regulate your emotions and produces feelings of general well-being. When your brain lacks sufficient serotonin, either because your body isn’t producing enough or isn’t making effective use of the supply it has, depressive symptoms can result.
SSRIs keep your brain’s neurons from soaking up all the available serotonin, thus leaving more of it present to work its mood-boosting magic. For this reason, SSRIs like Prozac, Zoloft, and Lexapro are a common element in mental health treatment programs. It may take some experimentation to find the right drug and correct dosage for maximum benefit, but here, too, persistence will pay off. You and your therapist can make much faster progress when a chemical imbalance in your brain isn’t thwarting you.
3. Support Your Mental Wellness With Natural Remedies
As just discussed, your efforts to deal with your mental health issues will depend on your body’s cooperation. The mind-body connection is critical, and luckily medication isn’t the only way to improve physical health in support of the mental kind. There are many natural remedies for anxiety and depression that you can incorporate into your daily routine.
The first of these is arguably exercise, which produces endorphins such as dopamine, the neurotransmitter that’s released during pleasurable activities like eating chocolate or having sex. Low levels of dopamine can cause you to feel tired, unmotivated, and unhappy, so increasing it through physical activity will enhance your sense of well-being. Diet also plays a role. Since dopamine is produced from the amino acid tyrosine, eating more tyrosine-rich foods like bananas, lowfat dairy products, poultry, and soy could also raise your dopamine levels — and your mood with it.
Finally, along with exercise and a healthy diet, don’t sleep on the mental health benefits of sleep. Insufficient slumber makes it harder to deal with daily stressors calmly and inhibits positive emotions overall. Getting the seven to nine hours of shut-eyep experts recommend may be difficult, but making it a priority is essential to your mental wellness. Set a bedtime reminder, and when it goes off, turn your phone off too, since screen time can hinder your ability to fall asleep. Instead of doom-scrolling, establish a soothing bedtime routine that will encourage you to drift off into a mind-restoring rest.
Start Your Mental Health and Wellness Journey Off Right
Addressing your mental health concerns and getting them under control is not an easy journey with a quick fix. But the longer you let your mental health take a toll on you, the more it will affect your life. With the right treatment and self-care approach, you can be on the path to brighter, happier days ahead.