Your Guide to Mental Health Care

Are you doing enough to care for your mental health? For all too many Americans, the answer to that question is “no”.

We are in the midst of a mental health crisis in our country, which is overrun by cases of depression, anxiety, and addiction. But for many of us, our mental health remains an abstract concern, if it’s even something that we think about at all.

It shouldn’t be this way. Your mental health is a big deal, and caring for it should be one of your top priorities. Below, we’ll explain why that is and lay out the basic concerns that you’ll need to address if you are going to take proper care of your mind.

Your mental health matters

It’s easy to identify the importance of mental health when presented with a serious mental illness like schizophrenia. But we would all do well to remember that mental health doesn’t only matter when it’s staring us in the face.

Your mental health affects your moods, your productivity, the quality of your sleep, and a whole host of other issues. And mental health issues have very real consequences: stress can shorten your lifespan, and so can depression. While it’s helpful to look into professional care through services like With Therapy, there are plenty of other things you can do as well.

Physical health and mental health

Physical and mental health are really two sides to the same coin. They are closely tied together, and one can easily affect the other. Poor mental health can result in physical symptoms, while poor physical health can lead to poor mental health.

Because of this, caring for your physical health is an important dimension of caring for your mental health. The same things that you do to care for your body — in particular, eat right and exercise — are crucial for your mental health, too.

So while it may sound a little new-agey to say so, the best approach to your health is a “holistic” one. It should recognize the many important ways in which our physical and mental health are inseparably connected. You should try to live your life in a way that’s healthy for the whole you, which means making smart big-picture decisions (like choosing to eat a lot of vegetables) and not worrying so much about the latest specific health trends and fad diets.

Minding your mind

Your mental health will be better if you care for your physical health. But there are also things that you should do to address your mental health directly. One of those things is meditation. Meditation can help improve mental health, and it’s easy to pick up as a beginner. Just attend a class or pick up a book on meditation aimed at beginners.

Your sleep is very important to your mental health (it’s also very important to your physical health, of course). Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same times every day, and get your rest in a cool, dark, and quiet place.

Professional care

Your everyday health decisions have a huge impact on your health. But make no mistake: without professional care, your mental health plan is incomplete. That’s why you should seek out a therapist, advise the experts at With Therapy.

Therapy is a great way to address any mental health issues that you may have and to proactively strengthen your mental health. Regardless of how you feel right now, therapy can be a great choice. It’s just one more way to care for your mental health!