Healthy Ways to Cope with Anxiety and Depression

Being diagnosed with depression or anxiety can be a life-changing event. This means that you are going into the unknown and will have to possibly change how you live your life. There are a lot of different things people do to treat their mental illness and keep their mental health in a good place. Not everything is going to work for everybody, so keep in mind that what works for someone else isn’t necessarily going to work for you.

Here are five things you can do to cope with your mental illness that don't include medication:

Exercise

This one can be tough if you start having anxiety attacks while exercising or if you are depressed and you can’t get out of bed all day. These are symptoms of mental illness, so this is normal and it can feel frustrating when a doctor recommends you exercise to help with it.

Exercising may come later after you start therapy or find a medication that works for you. Until you do, you get to practice some patience with yourself.

Self-Care

Starting medication or just trying to process the fact that you have a mental illness takes a lot out of you. The best thing that you can do is to practice self-care and really take time to make sure you are doing the best you can.

This will look different for different people. Some people will drop out of school or lessen their workload. Others will use essential oils to relax and rejuvenate themselves. You can look at Young Living Reviews to see the different kinds of products they have that you can use for relaxing and other things, such as oral hygiene.

Therapy

Most people find that a combination of medication and therapy is the best option for them. Going to therapy is something that is frowned upon by some people, but it is really a good thing. There are so many benefits to going to therapy. The important thing is to choose a therapist who is right for you and make sure you have a good relationship with them. If you do not trust your therapist, you will not make a lot of progress and you will be wasting your time and money.

Self-Help

There are many different resources out on the internet and in print about mental illness and different things you can do to help yourself. This should never replace professional medical help, but it can enhance your therapy sessions or give you a greater understanding of yourself.

Do your research before you take advice from anyone though. You need someone who can be trusted or has a good educational background. Take Jordan B Peterson for example. He is a psychology professor from Toronto whose book has helped a lot of people and is even used in professional psychology settings. The better your resources, the more effective and helpful they will be to you.

Patience

Mental illness is not cured overnight. There are a lot of different components that go into your mental health, so it is extremely complex when figuring out the root of your problem. To make it even harder, there are physical components and chemicals that impact your mental health.

Be patient with yourself if you are not where you want to be. You may have had to give up some dreams or put them on hold. You may have even had to redefine the definition of success and what it looks like in your daily life. Nothing good will come from beating yourself up or talking negatively about yourself.

There are a lot of different things that can help you with your mental illness, and there are also a lot of things that can make your depression and anxiety worse. Being mindful of yourself and what your body is telling you will be key to your mental health. Be sure to share this with a friend who is struggling with depression or anxiety.