HOW TO BRING MENTAL WELLNESS INTO THE NEW YEAR: MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT IS THE WAY! (1211 hits)
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Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): More Than the Winter Blues
As the days get shorter and there is less daylight, you may start to feel sad. While many people experience the “winter blues,” some people may have a type of depression called seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
The first step is to determine how much your symptoms interfere with your daily life.
Do you have mild symptoms that have lasted less than 2 weeks? Feeling down but still able to take care of yourself and others? Having some trouble sleeping Having less energy than usual but still able to do your job, schoolwork, or housework?
These activities can make you feel better Doing something you enjoy Going outside in the sunlight Spending time with family and friends Eating healthy and avoiding foods with lots of sugar If these activities do not help or your symptoms are getting worse, talk to a health care provider.
Do you have more severe symptoms that have lasted more than 2 weeks?
Social withdrawal Oversleeping Gaining weight Craving foods with lots of sugar like cakes, candies, and cookies
Seek professional help
Light therapy Psychotherapy (talk therapy) Medications Vitamin D supplements
If you or someone you know is in immediate distress or is thinking about hurting themselves, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org .
Help for Mental Illnesses Ayuda para la salud mental
Did you know the State-Designated Health Information Exchange (CRISP) makes advance care planning documents available to authorized users? This includes mental health advance directives (also referred to as “psychiatric advance directives”), which allow individuals to express their specific needs and preferences for treatment in the event they are unable to make or communicate their decisions in the future.
If you serve Marylanders with mental illness, read on to learn more about mental health advance directives, including when they are used and how to view them using CRISP.
WHAT ARE MENTAL HEALTH ADVANCE DIRECTIVES?
Mental health advance directives embody a recovery-oriented philosophy. They are particularly helpful for individuals with a serious mental illness.
Instructions tend to be clearer and more specific than medical advance directives for end-of-life since they are often based on lived experienced from relevant events, such as being hospitalized and medicated during a mental health crisis:
• Instructions for treatment and medications • Preferences around emergency measures (seclusion, restraint, etc.) • History of substance misuse or substance use disorder(s) • Preferred hospitals and service providers
NAMI TRAING CLASSES STARTING IN THE NEW YEAR INCLUDE:
Fighting with others is easy; backing down is hard. It is essential to prioritize mental well-being and mood stability instead of unleashing anger.
Learning to Walk Away From Arguments By Debbie Jacobs
The Impact of Fighting on Mental Health
Fighting, arguing, and disagreeing is detrimental to our well-being, especially for people who live with bipolar disorder or other mental health diagnoses. And arguing with others can become an almost daily occurrence, which would make it a constant in our lives. It’s easy to fight over anything and everything — and go on fighting your whole life.
I’ve learned that it’s not worth it to live this way. I’ve learned not to fight. I taught myself how to walk away from an argument and how to keep myself out of a fight. And this has been my win!
It took commitment and determination. I was really fed up with the fighting, and I committed to finding a solution and doing something about it. It took months of challenging myself; it took growth and reprioritizing my objectives.
I wasn’t willing to get into fights anymore. Instead, my goal was to keep out of them because they were too stressful, upsetting, and hurtful.
I believe you can do anything you set your mind to when it comes to making a change like this. I set my intention first and then, with commitment and determination, I stayed the course until I achieved what I set in my mind to achieve. Not fighting was a hard goal to accomplish, but it was worth it. I still have minor disagreements with some family members, but no longer with anyone else. Why? Because my objective today remains to stay out of fights.
Using Self-Control and Self-Talk to Cope With Bipolar Anger
Honestly, what’s helped most is self-control and positive self-talk. I learned how to talk myself out of fighting. When I felt tempted to start arguing with someone, I would tell myself things like “It’s not worth it,” “Let it go,” and “Don’t get into a fight.”
This pacifying self-talk would help me to defuse myself, instead of getting angry and escalating matters. This kind of self-talk also kept my behaviors in check as I learned new ways to handle confrontation and conflict.
Winning a Fight by Ending It
One time, I got into a fight with someone who was imposing their way on what I wanted. It wasn’t for her to say, it was my call, but she was pushing me to do things her way, and we started to argue over this. I kept pushing back until I felt a surge of anger within.
It was a good thing I was already trying to keep myself out of fights because when I felt that strong anger within me, I conceded. I caved in and agreed to do things her way just to stop the fight. We were in an office setting, so it wasn’t professional to continue arguing. Surprisingly, it actually felt very gratifying to be the one to give in. I didn’t lose the fight, I won by ending it.
This lesson still stays with me today.
Another lesson I learned was when a woman was speaking badly about my father to me. I remember thinking to myself, Am I supposed to get in a fight with her now? It’s true, you’d think I’d have to fight to defend my dad, but, even then, it’s not worth getting in a fight. Clearly, she was wrong about my father. And I decided to not let her hurtful words trigger me.
Benefits of Keeping the Peace and Staying Out of Arguments
The more I learned to keep myself out of fights, the better it felt. Staying out of fights keeps me out of hurt feelings and helps me to refocus on maintaining my happiness.
Not wanting to fight is not cowardly; I think it’s very smart. It’s not a sign of weakness to walk away or back down; it takes great strength, self-control, and, again, smarts. It’s our own actions that can get us into a fight — and it’s our own actions that can keep us out of the fight, too.
In my opinion, staying out of a fight is right, and it’s your win.
Breaking the Cycle of Bipolar Anger
In tackling my tendency to fight, I also had to address some of my own behaviors that got me into arguments and fights in the first place. Not out of fear or weakness but, again, what I think is smart and serving my highest good, I made an effort to eliminate my anger-fueled tendency to insult people, engage in name-calling, and curse.
This workshop is for family, friends, and loved ones of a teen or adult living with a mental illness. Led by trained family members who have been there. You'll also find support among peers and feel that you're not alone.
Family-to-Family is an 8-session educational program for family, loved ones, and friends of a teen or adult living with a mental illness. Contact Cecelia or Tom to Register and receive the Zoom link for all 8 classes.
Mondays & Thursdays, Jan 8 – Feb 1, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Mondays, Jan 15 – March 4, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
REGISTER NOW BY CALLING Cecelia at: (205) 292-5242 or by email at calaurie78@gmail.com OR Tom can be reached by call or text at 952-412-7385.
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NAMI SMARTS BY NAMI-Minnesota
NAMI Smarts!
This class is for anyone interested in advocating for changes to improve the lives of children and adults with mental illnesses and their families. Classes begin January 20, 2024 in-person and January 23, 2024 online.
"The Mental Health Of Migrants Simmers Below The Surface As The Next Looming Crisis"
The mental health of migrants simmers below the surface as the next looming crisis Support groups are trying to address the obstacles to care, including language barriers and a persistent shortage of mental health workers.
He is haunted by his journey to Chicago, a trip of more than 2,000 miles, during which he says he was kidnapped for a month, then escaped.
“I’m still in between two dangers. If I return it’s very possible they kill me, and if I stay I don’t know what can happen here.”
More than 25,000 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived mostly from South and Central America since late August of last year. They are fleeing the collapse of their economies, the lack of jobs and food, and as one social worker puts it, “misery.” Many came here on a bus from Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Chicago and other sanctuary cities that embrace immigrants would provide much-needed relief “to our small, overrun border towns.” The buses haven’t stopped since.
He left his country because he says the government threatened his life. There were nights when all he could do was cry in anger. He recalls a phone call with his wife in Colombia, cut short when the bus she was riding on was being robbed.
“Estoy entre dos peligrosos. Si vuelvo es muy posible me matan, y si me quedo no se que puede pasar aquí.”
“I’m still in between two dangers. If I return it’s very possible they kill me, and if I stay I don’t know what can happen here.”
More than 25,000 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived mostly from South and Central America since late August of last year. They are fleeing the collapse of their economies, the lack of jobs and food, and as one social worker puts it, “misery.” Many came here on a bus from Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Chicago and other sanctuary cities that embrace immigrants would provide much-needed relief “to our small, overrun border towns.” The buses haven’t stopped since.
IS DEPRESSION A MENTAL ILLNESS? LEARN MORE HERE AND FIND A LOCAL NAMI CHAPTER NEAR YOU. VISIT: NAMI.ORG
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"How to Recover When Socializing Has Totally Drained Your Battery"
You don’t have to be socially anxious https://www.self.com/story/social-anxiety-... or shy to feel wiped out after a house party, networking event, or even just two coffee get-togethers in a row. Social exhaustion (also known as an introvert hangover: https://www.choosingtherapy.com/introvert-... is completely natural, and it’s basically your body’s way of telling you to hit pause and get some R&R, Laurie Helgoe, PhD: https://www.drlauriehelgoe.com/, associate clinical professor of psychology at Augsburg University and author of Introvert Power: https://bookshop.org/p/books/introvert-pow... Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength, tells SELF. “When you interact with other people, you’re processing a lot of information, and if there’s too much at once, it’s no wonder you’ll be overwhelmed or find it hard to relax”—or feel depleted after the fact, Dr. Helgoe says.
Learning to Walk Away From Arguments By Debbie Jacobs
Fighting with others is easy; backing down is hard. As someone living with bipolar disorder, here’s how I learned to prioritize my mental well-being and mood stability instead of unleashing my anger.
The Impact of Fighting on Mental Health Fighting, arguing, and disagreeing is detrimental to our well-being, especially for people who live with bipolar disorder or other mental health diagnoses. And arguing with others can become an almost daily occurrence, which would make it a constant in our lives. It’s easy to fight over anything and everything — and go on fighting your whole life.
I’ve learned that it’s not worth it to live this way. I’ve learned not to fight. I taught myself how to walk away from an argument and how to keep myself out of a fight. And this has been my win!
It took commitment and determination. I was really fed up with the fighting, and I committed to finding a solution and doing something about it. It took months of challenging myself; it took growth and reprioritizing my objectives.
I wasn’t willing to get into fights anymore. Instead, my goal was to keep out of them because they were too stressful, upsetting, and hurtful.
I believe you can do anything you set your mind to when it comes to making a change like this. I set my intention first and then, with commitment and determination, I stayed the course until I achieved what I set in my mind to achieve. Not fighting was a hard goal to accomplish, but it was worth it. I still have minor disagreements with some family members, but no longer with anyone else. Why? Because my objective today remains to stay out of fights.
Using Self-Control and Self-Talk to Cope With Bipolar Anger Honestly, what’s helped most is self-control and positive self-talk. I learned how to talk myself out of fighting. When I felt tempted to start arguing with someone, I would tell myself things like “It’s not worth it,” “Let it go,” and “Don’t get into a fight.”
This pacifying self-talk would help me to defuse myself, instead of getting angry and escalating matters. This kind of self-talk also kept my behaviors in check as I learned new ways to handle confrontation and conflict.
Read the full article HERE!:https://www.bphope.com/blog/learning-to-walk-away-from-arguments/
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KEEP MENTAL WELLNESS CONVERSATIONS GOING IN YOUR FAMILY, COMMUNITY, WORK PLACE, AND CHURCH FAMILY ALL YEAR! ENJOY LOP PIXVERSATIONS INSTEAD OF STIGMAS! VISIT: https://www.pinterest.com/levineoliverpub/...
HOW DID YOU ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS? LET ME KNOW AT LEVINEOLIVERPUBLISHER@GMAIL.COM
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