Raising Mental Health Awareness
- Mena Suvari, 43, says she’s struggled with postpartum depression every day since the birth of her son in April 2021. She wants to be open about her mental health journey in the hopes of helping others facing similar hardships.
- Your mental health should always be a priority. One way to help you address your mental health is through therapy.
- One of our experts recommends practicing mindfulness and mediation in order to begin a journey of healing.
- Genetic testing can help determine the best course of mental health treatment for people struggling with issues like anxiety and depression. This testing help doctors gauge which medications are likely to work for their patients and cause the least amount of problematic side effects.
Suvari and her husband Michael Hope welcomed their son Christopher to the world in April 2021. He’s a healthy boy, but the birth did not go as planned. She was ready to birth her child naturally but eventually had to go to the hospital after “24 hours” of labor at home. Suvari then spent another 24 hours at the hospital only to have “an epidural they had to redo again.”
Read MoreAnd ever since she gave birth to her beloved son, the “American Horror Story” actress has struggled with her mental health.
“I struggle with postpartum [depression] every day,” Suvari said. “I’m just getting my hormones tested next month, so yeah, it’s all very real. I deal with this every day, how do I navigate this space?”
One of the things she’s hard a hard time with is giving herself the time and space to tend to herself. After bringing Christopher home, she always felt like getting out of the house was nearly impossible.
“I remember sitting on our balcony saying, ‘I have to get out of the house. I have to get out of the house.’ My husband, he said, ‘You can go. You can go for a walk,’ and I was like, ‘But I don’t think I [can],'” she explained. “I was going crazy I was like, ‘I have to do something for myself but I can’t go.’ I had to learn [to let go].”
“I still struggle with that… I don’t need to be in [my son’s] face 24-7 to raise a good being because of my fears. It’s a lot of work.”
But despite all the hard things she’s been working through, Suvari’s concerns still turn to others. She hopes that sharing the reality of her mental health journey can, hopefully, help others facing similar hardships.
“I do want to help others. I don’t think it suits anyone if I sit here and act like I’ve got it together in a way that I don’t, especially in this day and age,” Suvari said. “I’m trying not to [hide] too much.
“If I can take away some of the sadness for someone, I want to do that. I’m willing to be that person because it breaks my heart to ever consider someone else going through a lot of what I’ve gone through, so it kinda makes sense to give in. That’s how I live my life.”
The Importance of Your Mental Health
Mental health should be a priority for everyone. So, it's important to be aware of the following signs that there may be something affecting your mind:
- A change in eating or sleeping habits
- Losing interest in people or usual activities
- Experiencing little or no energy
- Numb and/or hopeless feelings
- Turning to drinking or drugs more than usual
- Non-typical angry, upset or on-edge feelings
- Yelling/fighting with loved ones
- Experiencing mood swings
- Intrusive thoughts
- Trouble getting through daily tasks
How to Turn Stress into Strength
Symptoms of a mental health disease or issue can vary from person to person, so it's always crucial to promptly speak with a healthcare provider if you're experiencing any changes to your physical or mental health. There are many treatment options available and many different healthy ways to help you cope.
One such option is therapy. In a previous conversation with SurvivorNet, ovarian cancer survivor Ni Guttenfelder talked about how finding the right counselor helped her process the feelings that came after her diagnosis.
"One of the things that my counselor has taught me from the very beginning that has helped me is the concept of acceptance," she says. "Acceptance is a process. It's like downloading a computer file in increments. Visualizing it in that way has really helped me."
In addition to therapy, mediation and practicing mindfulness can also be used to cope with a mental health struggle. Dr. Deepak Chopra, acclaimed author and pioneer of mindfulness movement, spoke with SurvivorNet about how asking yourself who you really are is the first step down the path to practicing mindfulness.
"If we can combine our actions in the world with reflective self inquiry, love and compassion, and a state of secure, stable, ornamental, peaceful being without the addictions that humans have, then we can begin our journey of healing," Dr. Chopra explained.
Finding the Right Medication
Medications are another option for some people struggling with their mental health, and there should be no shame in turning to then when they’re needed. But, remember, that medicating isn't the right choice for everyone.
How to Be Realistically Optimistic: Coping With Mental Health Long-Term
That being said, it can be hard to find the right medication. These days, however, there is a form of genetic testing that has shown the ability to match people with the best medication for mental health treatment.
We've seen genetic testing used for treatment plans for other diseases, such as certain types of cancer, but the ability to use it to help people who are suffering from things like anxiety and depression is relatively new.
How Can Genetic Testing Help Determine the Right Form of Mental Health Treatment?
"Doing the genetic testing has absolutely transformed the landscape of psycho-pharmacology," psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchik told SurvivorNet. "It's something that I highly recommend for anybody that is taking medication, whether they are being treated for cancer, or not … I recommend it for children who are taking medication. I recommend it for elderly people. Anybody who is taking medication, I think, can greatly benefit from genetic testing."
Genetic testing can give a profile of how a person is likely to respond to different types of psychiatric medications, Dr. Plutchik explained. Testing is also available to create a profile of how patients will likely respond to different sorts of pain medications, which can be really beneficial for those going through some other sort of health issue.
Genetic testing "gives me information about which medications are likely to work without having problematic side effects. It also gives information about interactions between any of the psych medications that we choose," and other medications a patient may be taking, Dr. Plutchik said.
The genetic test that Dr. Plutchik was discussing, Genomind, looks at multiple factors before determining which treatment is likely to have successful results and minimal side-effects. The test examines certain genes that are associated with responses to medications commonly prescribed for mental health issues and then looks into the patient's ability to metabolize medication.
If you're considering going on medication for mental health treatment, consider asking your doctor if genetic testing might be helpful for you.
Contributing: Dr. Lori Plutchik
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.