Please: do not neglect your mental health.
As mental health professionals, we have seen this “tsunami” first hand over the past months. There is a distinctive shift in therapy and the therapeutic interventions required. Now more than ever, it is vital that plentiful and prompt delivery of mental health services are available.
The term “mental health” can be misleading and carries a stigma in itself. It reflects an image that a person must be struggling with a diagnosed psychiatric disorder to be suffering with their mental health. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mental health can be more clearly defined by a state of being where we achieve mental wellness through eliminating stress and anxiety.
We are facing into very unsure and frightening times. Every single person in society has had their “normal” upturned. Every problem we went into this pandemic with has now been highlighted and aggravated. If we were emotionally struggling with issues around relationships, addictions, suicidal idealisation, eating disorders, abuse, abusive relationships, family issues, trauma, financial difficulties, etc, before this pandemic, they are now been forced up even further to the surface.
People are emotionally struggling, and those struggles do not go away alone. Loneliness and isolation is a killer, and we do not have to be living alone to be experiencing these emotions. Another myth! There is no greater loneliness than the one experienced when we have people around us. Loneliness and isolation occurs when we are not connected to those around us in an emotionally healthy and supportive way.
We all need support in life, it is perfectly normal to reach out and seek a trained professional to support you through emotional difficulties. It is not possible to get through life without emotionally difficult periods. If you are emotionally struggling right now, please just know that it is perfectly normal. How could it not be in our present climate.
You wouldn’t hesitate to reach out for support if you needed physical attention right now. Don’t neglect your emotional well being either. Your mental health is also your wealth. Stress and anxiety has as much impact on your physical health as does any virus. Now, more than ever, we all need to take care of ourselves emotionally.
There is no shame in seeking support. Reach out if you’re struggling.
Stay well – in every way.
From us all at Alethea 🧡
