Coping with a Mental Illness

Coping with a mental illness or anxiety is not an easy thing to do. It can be very challenging, and sometimes it even seems impossible. This is because there are so many aspects of a mental condition that need working out in order to get a proper treatment plan for yourself. In addition, you must always be conscious of every shift in your emotions, thought processes, patterns, external influences, perception and interpretation of things at all times. This is exhausting, I know. Your greatest weapon, your mind, is at war with itself. The degrees of complexity and self-distructiveness that you are going through pales the ability for anybody to understand what’s going on with you. You also can’t really explain it. This is one of the reasons why coping with a mental illness is so difficult. You feel like you are all alone and nobody understands.

Uniqueness and Diversity

There are many kinds of mental illnesses such as Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Mood Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Split Personality Disorder. It is a fairly long list.

No two peoples experiences and perception are the same therefore one thing to take into consideration is how each condition differs from one person to the next. The treatment process in conjunction to how the mind operates and how it needs to be adjusted, conditioned and reconfigured will also be different. The condition is tailor made for you. Although you may display the same symptoms or behavior as most people with the condition, it’s mere existence is unique only to you. Some claim that there is no such thing as mental conditions but rather it is a state of mind. Those are people who have never experienced it or live in a state of denial. One aspect of living with and coping with a mental illness that can make full recovery possible is avoiding substance abuse. This includes street drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol and nicotine.

Drugs & Alcohol

I remember a time when I was going through depression and BPD. Russian Bear vodka was my personal favorite, it still is today. I did not adhere to anything I’ve mentioned because I did not know what was wrong with me. I felt sad, I felt empty, I felt lonely, misunderstood and I wanted to sleep all day. Every time I left the house it felt like people had something to say. I did not feel like I was getting anywhere with anything and at some point, death felt like the only escape.

Every single day I would be drinking, alone. Varsity did not matter anymore. My poetry suddenly embodied a dark demonic presence and I loved it. https://yfapublications.co.za/dark-poetry/‎

Over time, I embraced my depression and celebrated it through my writing because writing made me feel better. I embraced all the pain that splurged from nothing. This came with an understanding and acceptance of what I’m feeling and ideas of doing something about it that would make it go away. The only reason I did not commit suicide was because I was afraid of leaving this world without accomplishing anything, my pride would not allow it. I tried it, but managed to pull myself together in what I thought were my final moments.

More Drugs & Alcohol

One of the most common things that people with mental illnesses should try to avoid doing is using drugs. For one thing, if you use drugs, they can make you feel even worse than you do when you are not using them. The withdrawal symptoms of the drug might trigger episodes. You might perceive the only way of escaping is to use the drug again to feel better. Rest assured you will feel better. However, this means that you are now creating a co-dependency to feel a certain way. In that very moment, you are a drug addict.

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Self-realization

Medication is the most obvious answer to the problem. The negative side effects however include appetite loss, mood swings, insomnia, diarrhea, constipation, heart disease, depression, and a lot more. See, there is no winning formula. The same medications may lead to further complications and for this reason, it is important to know how to handle your condition and manage your feelings so that you can live a happy life.

A mental illness is an ongoing process, and it is not a once-and-done thing. Therefore coping with a mental illness and the methods that you will use to handle your condition is a self — realization learning experience. It is an opportunity to know more about yourself and understanding yourself. It is about knowing what you are into and what you are not. An opportunity to get to know the real you and not the person that you think you are. If something makes you happy, hold on to that moment and focus on repeating it because you will feel alive.

Pay attention to what someone says or what happens just before you become sad, suicidal or upset and learn to avoid such situations. Live with what brings you peace. You cannot just treat yourself once a week. You need to continue to do something that will help you deal with your condition.

Relapse

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There are many ways to help yourself when you are living and coping with a mental illness, the most important thing is to be willing to follow through on what you are trying to do. Sometimes people will find that medication can be the wrong choice, and prefer to talk to someone about their problems. Some people might choose to convert their illness into art and create magic with their pain. Whichever way works, the worst thing that will ever happen whilst making progress is a relapse.

A relapse is a deterioration in someone’s state of health after a temporary improvement. The triggers may be a series of interlinked activities. Avoid your triggers at all costs.

Common triggers for relapse include:

• The discomfort of withdrawal symptoms.
• Unpleasant feelings including hunger, anger, loneliness, and fatigue.
• Feeling isolated. Being alone with one’s thoughts for too long can lead to relapse.
• Seeing old friends who still use drugs.
• Finding oneself in places associated with one’s past drug use.
• Over-confidence that everything is under control.
• Breakups.

How to Prevent Relapse

Research has found that getting help in the form of supportive therapy from qualified professionals, and social support from peers, can prevent or minimize relapse. In particular, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help people overcome the fears and negative thinking that can trigger relapse. We will touch on CBT in a moment.

Coping Stratergies

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I deliberately started emphasizing on drugs and alcohol because it needs to be absolutely clear that alcohol and drugs is not the way of coping with a mental condition. If anything, you are better off buying all the alcohol and drugs you want and pour them out on the kitchen sink. You will feel much better. Coping with a mental condition is about dealing with you, and not others. A treatment or program can help you learn to regain your sense of self. Here are some simple coping techniques that you can use:

Acceptance

Acceptance is completely and totally embracing something from the depths of your soul, with your heart and your mind. No matter what, if your actions can not directly or indirectly change a situation, then you cannot change a situation. Accept that. Embrace that. It’s not you. It’s not your fault. Example, imagine a hurricane storm coming your way. It’s too close for you to move away from it. You do not have any superpowers to stop it.

Obviously, you can’t do anything about it, that’s not possible. You can not start thinking about “If only I wasn’t this, if only I wasn’t on that, what if I did this, what if I did….” No. Stop that. However, if you accept the fact that the hurricane storm is coming, then you can act, prepare and keep yourself safe. To elaborate more on this illustration, Rules of Self-development, Chapter 17 of The Roadtrip:A Self-guide to Success offers a holistic display. If you sit around trying to will the storm to stop or pretend that there is no storm, you’re going to be in real trouble when it comes.

Deep Breathing

Breathing is an annoying and boring cliché at this point, but that’s because the best way to calm anxiety really is to breathe deeply. When battling my own anxiety, I turned to the concept of “6,6,6” breathing while using a Mudra:

• Breathe in for 6 seconds
• Hold the breath for 6 seconds
• Breathe out for 6 seconds

This gentle repetition sends a message to the brain that everything is okay (or it will be soon). Before long, your heart will slow its pace and you will begin to relax—sometimes without even realizing it. On Chapter 2 of The Roadtrip: A Self-guide to Success we talk about the Mudras and different breathing techniques to use.

Mental Positioning

Mental Positioning involves taking an emotion or stressor and thinking of it differently. Take, for example, being stuck in traffic. Sure, you could think to yourself, “Wow, my life is horrible. I’m going to be late because of this traffic. Why does this always happen to me?”. Or you can position that thought into something like, “This traffic is bad, but I’ll still get to where I’m going. I probably need to wake up earlier tomorrow. There’s nothing I can do about it now, so I’ll just listen to music or an audiobook to pass the time.” Perfecting this technique can literally change your perspective in tough situations. This skill takes time, patience with yourself and practice.

Conscious Awareness

If you live in denial of your emotions and the surrounding reality, it will take far longer to take care for those emotions and also realize the truth of what is actually going on. Once you recognize what we’re feeling, you can tackle it or whatever is causing it. Once you are consciously aware of the reality of things, you can then put yourself in a position where you will make different decisions for things to work in your favor. Live in the moment. If you’re feeling anxious, let yourself be anxious for a couple of minutes then calm yourself down. If you’re feeling angry, let yourself be angry, don’t say or do anything—then do something soothing and come back to express your thoughts of whatever pissed you off.

Be in touch with your emotions. Accept that you are feeling a certain way. Let yourself feel that way and then take action to diminish unhealthy feelings. Never deny yourself the opportunity of feeling because there is something to learn from it. A mental illness is, I reckon, a moment of self-realization where you get to really know yourself.

Suicidal Thoughts

Dying is easy but killing yourself is selfish. The world is better with you in it than without you. The potential you have, whether you have tapped into it or not, is what is needed to bring more value to the world through your influence of the surrounding people. You may feel lost, out of place, hopeless, regretful and be filled with a void of complete nothingness. It happens to the best of us from time to time. What better moment is there to be alive?

Treatment

Most people need some kind of treatment to help them regain control of their individual’s mind. You might not have tried to cope with suicidal thoughts yet, but the sooner you start the better.

What you need in a treatment center depends on the type of problem that you are dealing with. Treatment can vary widely, but the most common problems treated in a treatment center are anxiety, depression, bipolar disorders, substance abuse, and trauma. In some cases, the treatment that will help you are a combination of the psychotherapy and the medication, as there is a higher likelihood of suicidal behavior if you have a serious depressive disorder. This type of treatment has worked very well for the most depressed patients, who have made full recoveries. Most people find this type of treatment very effective, and many patients are able to lead normal lives after treatment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

There are other forms of therapy that are sometimes combined with medications for treating this condition, and there are also cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and family therapy. The combination of treatment is sometimes the best option, though in general, CBT and medications have more effect on teenagers and adults. CBT is often used in order to deal with the side effects of the medication, such as nausea, dizziness, insomnia, vomiting, etc. Sometimes, people are also prescribed antidepressant medication to help cope with the side effects of the medication. It is important to note that if you are taking any type of medication to cope with your suicidal thoughts, do not stop taking the medication without first talking to your doctor. They often give the beat direction in your journey of coping with a mental illness.

Embrace the condition

There is no greater joy that comes after breaking through an unbearable moment. The heavy weight, suddenly lifted off your shoulders as you see the beauty of your struggle for the first time. I’ve learned over the years that it is hard for the soul to find peace when it doesn’t leave it’s vessel on its own accord. You have a powerful mind. Self-manipulation is real. Embrace your condition. The best way to manage it is to understand it. Living with and coping with a mental illness does not have to be difficult. When you recognize that you need help, and you have the tools to get it, even when you think that’s not the case, trust me, the door is always open.