Getting Help for Mental Health Issues

The conversation around mental health is starting to enter the mainstream and an ever-increasing number of people are coming forward and being honest about their struggles with various mental health issues. By doing so, the stigma surrounding mental illness is beginning to ease a little, making it less daunting for people to seek out the help and treatment that they need to be able to live their lives to the full.

If you are reading this article, the chances are that you suspect something might be wrong and this issue, however big or small, with your mental health, needs to be treated.

To help you to confront this issue for the first time, this handy guide is going to take you through some of the essential things you should know about how to move forward. The sooner you address your mental health and start trying to find the help you need, the sooner you will begin to feel like your old self again.

Working out what’s wrong

Many individuals will refrain from seeking out help because they think that the things they are going through are not as bad as they could be, but this doesn’t help anyone, least of all yourself.

Instead, what you need to do is get better acquainted with some of the symptoms associated with mental illness in general and make an honest assessment to see if you need to get some more help. If you find yourself feeling sad more often, have less ability to concentrate, are tired all the time, extreme mood changes, and/or persistent feelings of guilt, these could all be signs that something is not quite right.

If this is the case, the next step is to work out how to find a good therapist as talking this all through with a professional will help them to identify what is wrong and get you the help you need.

Think outside of the box

When you are beginning to tackle a mental health issue, it is important that you keep an open mind about what could be helpful to you. The traditional methods of talking therapy and medication have proven useful for many people, but this doesn’t mean these are the only two options available to help you out.

Oxfordvr.org, for example, has recently published ground-breaking research to demonstrate how Virtual Reality (VR) technology can be used to automate mental health therapies and deliver a positive effect for those going through mental health issues.  Oxford VR is developing a range of clinically validated, cost effective and user centred cognitive treatments for clinical conditions such as anxiety disorders, psychosis, depression and addictions.

Coping with the everyday

Of course, sometimes even when you are going through various therapies, your issue can skill knock you for six at times, which is why it is so important to know some practical methods to cope with difficult days.

Finding breathing exercises is a great way to get yourself through a panic attack or bout of anger and can even be useful when trying to stop yourself from crying.

Another good method is to carry around a small book to write down your emotions in when they get too much.