I mean- yes? No? Do you. If you have mild depression or are simply in a state of “depression” as opposed to full blown clinical depression- some basic self care and positive changes and experiences might be all you need. If you are in a dark place, spiraling and spinning, contemplating self harm or engaging in self destructive behaviors- exercise and friends and diet etc. might be PART of a plan, but for those to work you may first need therapy and or medication to put you in a state where you can even begin to heal. Here is the two part kicker:
1. You can have anxiety disorders, clinical depression, manic depressive issues, or be engaged in self harm or self destructive behaviors and not even realize it. Your “social drinking,” poor diet, poor self care or fitness, toxic or self defeating behaviors in life or relationships or career- those could be coming from an untreated issue and you, even those around you, might not notice that you are actually just hurting and need help…
… simply being a “jerk” or a “pushover” or a million other things that people might shrug and be like: “that’s just how Jim is…” those things can be manifestations of harms coming from untreated mental health conditions. You don’t have to be “emo” or live up to some TV trope of what a mental condition “looks like” to be suffering something.
2. There are good odds that, if you see a professional and you just have a very mild case of transient case of something… that’s exactly what they’ll tell you. This is perhaps most important and a MAJOR misunderstanding in modern mental health. Any decent doctor isn’t going to sit down with an otherwise fine kid who says: “I feel confused, I get sad, I feel overwhelmed…” and be like: “I’ve heard enough. Take these pills. Bye.” Everyone feels those things sometimes, especially young folks and folks going through things. “Big mental health” isn’t trying to medicate the globe.
Instead they are looking at who is suffering outside the “norm,” or who is showing the signs that their mew two health is being strained beyond their own ability or the ability of some simple techniques to bring them back to a level they can handle.
So if you go to a decent doctor and tell them you’re a little blue, they’re going to tell you probably to do some basic things like shower and groom yourself and practice self care. Eat better, work out, do things you enjoy. Build things, learn, better your career etc. maybe avoid certain things like drinking or recreational “downers” and certain situations etc. perhaps show you some exercises or resources to help you focus or meditate etc.
It seems very obvious and you maybe do t have to go to a doctor for that advice- but most things a manager tells someone are pretty obvious too right? The point is that someone who has a certain expertise and is standing outside the situation can offer guidance and help identify areas that could cause problems or make suggestions to overcome issues. You can talk to a stranger- a paid professional- in ways we often can’t talk to those close to us. We may feel ashamed or may not want to hurt their feelings or upset them etc. more importantly- we tend to see our friends as equals and less as experts. We may value their advice etc, but the relationship between friends isn’t the same as doctor and patient. There are all these little reasons that add value to speaking to a professional. Visiting them helps with accountability- something many people struggle with when going things alone.
If you see your doctor once a week or whatever- they’re going to ask about your exercise or self care, if you’re doing your meditation or whatever. That feeling of accountability can help people commit to change. More over, they are also monitoring your progress. They can see if you are getting better or worse and work to figure out why and what can be done. And if you get worse and nothing seems to work to stop that spin- they can prescribe medicine or refer to a colleague to prescribe medicine and stop the backslide. From there, things like self care routines and therapy now have a better chance to see positive progress. For many people the medication will be temporary- something to stop a slide or serve as a safety net; and then over time they’ll taper it down as a person improves. For others, they may need to be on medication long term or for life to avoid backsliding.
It’s all very relative- but what you can’t get from a diet and exercise and friend time always is someone who knows what to look for and is going to flat out ask you as far as signs that you plan to or want to or think about hurting or killing your self or other people with any weight behind them. Someone who has tools and knowledge to deal with that. One of the reasons so many people end up leaving a mental health doctor with medicine is that so many people don’t notice their mental health declining or they try to use “self remedy” to fight it alone before going to get expert help. In those cases, the most reluctant people to go see a professional often don’t go until their condition has deteriorated to a point where the severity of things doesn’t allow a gradual non pharma approach to setting the scales right. At the point where you’re thinking about ending your life a doctor generally can’t just say: “go home and have some ancestral grains and run 6 miles…” it’s too late to try that
Alone. At that point something needs to be done immediately to try and mitigate the threat to your life and make sure that you can have the time you need to go eat ancestral grains and run for months or years or however long it takes. That’s where medicine often comes in. For the last time though- there is no shame in medication. Taking pills for depression is no more something to look down on than taking pills for a bad heart or something. The pills are helping keep you alive and helping you enjoy life. So all in all- the only real aversions to mental health professionals might stem from money and time. Some people just have trouble making it possible to do, but toner than those things it is her ally true that most people will underutilize mental health professionals. Even if you don’t “feel sick” most people go for a check up at leas t once a year right…?
True depression is awful. When I was in the tunnel, the last thing I needed was to be told I could pull myself out of it if I just went for a walk and ate better. That just added guilt on top of the depression, and was untrue besides. You cannot correct a chemical imbalance in the brain in this manner.
1. You can have anxiety disorders, clinical depression, manic depressive issues, or be engaged in self harm or self destructive behaviors and not even realize it. Your “social drinking,” poor diet, poor self care or fitness, toxic or self defeating behaviors in life or relationships or career- those could be coming from an untreated issue and you, even those around you, might not notice that you are actually just hurting and need help…
2. There are good odds that, if you see a professional and you just have a very mild case of transient case of something… that’s exactly what they’ll tell you. This is perhaps most important and a MAJOR misunderstanding in modern mental health. Any decent doctor isn’t going to sit down with an otherwise fine kid who says: “I feel confused, I get sad, I feel overwhelmed…” and be like: “I’ve heard enough. Take these pills. Bye.” Everyone feels those things sometimes, especially young folks and folks going through things. “Big mental health” isn’t trying to medicate the globe.
So if you go to a decent doctor and tell them you’re a little blue, they’re going to tell you probably to do some basic things like shower and groom yourself and practice self care. Eat better, work out, do things you enjoy. Build things, learn, better your career etc. maybe avoid certain things like drinking or recreational “downers” and certain situations etc. perhaps show you some exercises or resources to help you focus or meditate etc.