Caring for Your Mental Health Is Part of Caring for Yourself
- Social media star Charli D’Amelio, 22, is opening up about prioritizing her mental health through therapy, self-care, and spending more time outdoors as she navigates adulthood.
- The term mental health refers to both our emotional and psychological well-being. Our mental health can affect how we think, feel, and behave. Certain triggers like stress, traumatic events, or change in your physical health can affect mental health.
- It’s really important to keep tabs on your mental health and, if necessary, seek treatment. This doesn’t necessarily mean traditional therapy because while it may be really helpful (even life-changing) for some, that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.
- There are many ways to address mental health issues. Options may include meditation, practicing mindfulness, talking with a therapist, joining a support group, and medication, such as antidepressants.
- If you are facing mental health struggles, make an appointment with your doctor or mental health professional today. In the meantime, here is SurvivorNet’s guide of resources to get you started. There is never any shame in asking for help. No one should suffer alone.
“We’re disconnecting to reconnect. We’re touching grass. So basically, some of you need to know what Earth is like,” said the 22-year-old, in a recent video shared on YouTube, featuring her on a hike and answering questions.
Read MoreCheck Out SurvivorNet’s Mental Health Resource Page
D’Amelio then admitted to being “a little bit of a homebody,” explaining that dance has always been her go-to form of exercise.
“And I’ve always used dance as my workout, so I’ve never really done other types of like workout classes, or walking or, like, anything,” she added.
“So we’re getting outside of our comfort zone, and I want to bring you guys along with me as we all figure out how to be adults together. Because no one tells you what the f*** you’re supposed to do.”
Expert Mental Health Resources
- How Can Genetic Testing Help Determine the Right Form of Mental Health Treatment?
- Mental Health and Cancer — The Fight, Flight or Freeze Response
- Mental Health: Coping With Feelings of Anger
- Mental Health: A Guided Breathing Exercise to Help Manage Anxiety
- Mental Health: Understanding the Three Wellsprings of Vitality
- How to Be Realistically Optimistic: Coping With Mental Health Long-Term
- How to Handle the Emotional Toll of Caring for a Loved One: Prioritizing Your Mental Health
- Insomnia, Pain Tolerance, and Anxiety: Addressing Your Unmet Mental Health Needs
D’Amelio reflected on the challenges of creating balance in her life, sharing that she never learned how to properly navigate the line between work, personal time, and self-care.
“So I’m kinda teaching myself all that stuff. Yeah, it’s been fun. Been trying out a lot of new things, cooking, baking,” she said.
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A few years back, D’Amelio offered insight into her mental health and finding a therapist she connected with on the Dhar and Jay Show, featuring legendary speaker Jay Shetty alongside entrepreneur Dhar Mann.
“I had a lot of trouble finding a good therapist for a long time. Now I talk to a life coach, which has been very helpful for me to kind of see my own progress throughout just talking to her,” D’Amelio revealed.
Try This Simple, Guided Grounding Exercise to Help Manage Anxiety
She explained that even when she feels she no longer “needs” a therapy session, she still checks in with her life coach and often realizes how differently she approaches her emotions, relationships and overall outlook compared with the past.
“Seeing that growth within myself, because I had my fair share of really, really bad therapists, and this was something that was really eye-opening to me,” said D’Amelio.
“Because for a long time, I was turned off of talking to anyone because of those bad experiences, and it took a lot to regain that power to be vulnerable to someone. And that’s been very helpful with me.”
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The Power of Nature
We’ve all heard that nature has healing powers in the past. SurvivorNetTV’s “Between Two Harbors” looks into how time spent outdoors and around water can truly help people to recover after dealing with health issues or difficult cancer treatments.
“Between Two Harbors”: Nature’s Hand in Healing
The documentary, here and on SurvivorNetTV, follows a group of individuals as they battle cancer and showcases a one-of-a-kind recovery program in the scenic Catalina Island. Through their inspiring stories and strength, it becomes abundantly clear just how much our mindsets can be affected by our surroundings.
The program puts the focus on mindset while those featured are either going through treatment, or the recovery process, and invites them to enjoy the open water with activities like surfing, paddling, kayaking, and sailing.
The takeaway from Between Two Harbors is clear: a positive mindset can make all the difference during life’s toughest moments.
Check this documentary, plus so many other inspiring stories out on SurvivorNetTV!
Coping With Mental Health Long Term
People may turn to many different avenues to help them cope with mental health struggles, such as traditional therapy, support groups, meditation, and sometimes medical intervention such as antidepressants.
When faced with a new challenge, it’s important to make sure that these coping mechanisms you have to care for your mental health continue to work throughout the process.
“I think flexibility is really a core of how to manage it,” Dr. Samantha Boardman, a New York-based psychiatrist and author, previously told SurvivorNet. “Are your coping strategies that you’re using now, are they helpful in the way that they were in the past?”
SurvivorNetTV Presents: Breaking the Cycle The Power of Mindset
Dr. Boardman encourages people who may be struggling with their mental well-being to take stock of their belief system and ask themselves the following questions:
- Could these beliefs be harming me (like feelings of self-doubt or negativity)?
- Is my mindset holding me back from positive steps forward?
Dr. Boardman suggests working to recognize any negative thoughts that may be making the process of cancer treatment more difficult, and trying to dismantle those to be more “realistically optimistic.”
Remember, taking care of your mental health isn’t always easy, but it should always be a priority. One place to start is simply being aware of how you’re feeling and reflecting on any changes you’ve noticed in your emotions or behaviors.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, you should see a professional if you are experiencing severe or distressing symptoms that have lasted two weeks or more, such as:
- Trouble sleeping
- Changes in appetite
- Struggling to leave bed in the morning because of your mood
- Trouble concentrating
- Loss of interest in things you normally enjoy
- Inability to perform normal daily functions and responsibilities
It’s important to try to get help before your symptoms of a mental health issue become overwhelming. Talk with your primary care doctor about any concerns you’re having, so they can refer you to a mental health professional if needed.
Therapy can also be a way of taking care of your mental health. But know you might need to shop around for the right therapist. Ovarian cancer survivor Ni Guttenfelder says finding the right counselor allowed her to work through the complex emotions of her cancer battle.
“One of the things that my counselor has taught me from the very beginning that has helped me is the concept of acceptance,” she said. “Acceptance is a process. It’s like downloading a computer file in increments. Visualizing it in that way has really helped me.”
Meditation and practicing mindfulness can also be great tools in mental health care. Dr. Deepak Chopra, acclaimed author and pioneer of mindfulness movement, previously spoke with SurvivorNet about mindfulness. He says asking yourself who you are is the first step on 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.
Dr. Brian Berman, director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at University of Maryland, takes SurvivorNet through a guided meditation
In addition, medications can also help people with a mental health illness. They are not necessary for everyone, but medications can make a difference. And there should be no shame attached to taking them.
That being said, it can be tricky to find the right one and your needs may change over time. Psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchik says genetic testing through Genomind can help. It gives a profile of how a person is likely to respond to different types of psychiatric medications.
MORE: 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,” Dr. 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.”
Try This Simple, Guided Grounding Exercise to Help Manage Anxiety
Getting a cancer diagnosis or coping with mental health issues can certainly be overwhelming, but there are certain ways to help control any negative or racing thoughts coming on by using grounding exercises, or certain techniques to stay in the present.
Dr. Kysa Christie, a clinical psychologist in the hematology and oncology clinic at the West Los Angeles VA Healthcare Center, shared a simple grounding exercise with SurvivorNet that can be used as an easy go-to tool to help manage anxiety.
If your thoughts are racing or you’re feeling “anxious, nervous, a little emotionally overwhelmed,” it can be “helpful to do some grounding exercises,” Dr. Christie tells SurvivorNet, explaining that it’s a way of getting your mind “focused on the present rather than wherever it’s racing off to.”
There are many simple ways to go about this that can have real benefits, according to Dr. Christie.
“You might think, okay, let me come up with 20 sports teams and I’m just going to sit here and rattle ’em off. Give yourself a minute or two to do that,” she says. “Then let me come up with 20 different things I see in this room.”
“Again, it’s a way of getting your mind here where you are in the room, rather than the worries that are starting to carry those thoughts away,” Dr. Christie adds.
Elsewhere in the interview, she also shared a simple breathing exercise.
“One of my favorites is belly breathing, so kind of putting one hand on your belly, one hand on your chest, let your shoulders relax, and if you’re standing, kind of really notice where your feet are touching the ground,” Dr. Christie says. “If you’re sitting, notice where your butt and legs are connected with the chair, sink in for a second.”
“The belly breathing is designed to, as you breathe in, your hand should lift up a little bit like a balloon, and as you breathe out, your hand goes down. As that balloon deflates, what that’s doing is giving your body a chance to reset,” Dr. Christie explains.
Dr. Christie explains how/when to try ‘belly breathing.’
“So when we’re nervous, when we’re scared, we tend to breathe from our chest, and those breaths tend to be more shallow,” she continues. “So if you’ve got one hand on your chest, one hand on your belly, you can notice where is this breath coming from and try and breathe from your belly.”
“Let that lower hand rise and then let it fall. If you notice it’s coming from your chest, these more shallow breaths. Just again, try and focus your attention, bringing your attention to your belly, where your hand is, and breathing in, and then breathing out.”
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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