MENTALLY THINKING

TRACKING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

BY BONNIE FLOYD

In our society, it’s very common for us to spend enormous amounts of time, as well as money, looking after our physical health statuses. We’re careful to purchase organic produce, to weight ourselves on a regular basis, and to take our daily multi-vitamins. We allocate time for physical activity, whether by going to the gym, playing individual and/or team sports, or simply walking around the block for exercise.

We make sure to have annual physicals with our primary care providers, as well as to complete routine screening examinations, including mammograms, pap smears. and colonoscopies. If necessary, we take our prescription medications when needed, for a shortterm illness, or a chronic condition. We routinely schedule appointments to have our eyes examined, and our teeth cleaned.

Just as important as the proactive steps that we take to guard our physical health, we carefully avoid habits and practices that are known to be deleterious to our health. Of course, this includes not smoking cigarettes, avoiding excessive drinking, refraining from eating unhealthy foods, and limiting unnecessary weight gain.

While it is very important to take excellent care of our physical health, it’s also essential to be regularly mindful of our state of mental health. The concept of having an annual physical is easily understood to us; our primary care physicians evaluate our overall physical health status.They ask us detailed questions about our daily habits and health practices. They carefully review our family medical histories.

Our primary care physicians also inquire about any problematic symptoms that we may possibly be experiencing, as well as how long we’ve had such symptoms, their relative intensity, and their duration. They prescribe a course of treatment to address such symptoms, as well as provide a prognosis.

However, for most of us, the concept of having an annual check-up for our mental health status appears somewhat foreign, even intimidating.We find it very difficult to comprehend that we would schedule an annual assessment of our mental health and well-being right?

As a clinical health psychologist, I’ve received specialized training that highlights the critical role that our emotional well-being plays, both In the development and the course of diverse types of physical illnesses. I’ve chosen to subspecialize in maximizing psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness.

My clinical experiences have shown that emotional factors are critically important to predicting how well diverse individuals will uniquely respond to the multiple demands of coping with chronic illness.Pre-existing diagnoses of anxiety or depressive disorders will impact how well individuals are able to deal with the long-term challenges of continued medical conditions. Personality characteristics will also exert a profound influence on the ways in which individuals react to receiving their initial medical diagnoses, how they will choose to react when their symptoms possibly worsen, and the coping strategies that they employ when illness impacts their pre-existing lifestyles.

I’ve spent many years observing the significant impact of emotional factors on overall adjustment to illness. As a result, I’m convinced that all of us need to regularly take inventory of our mental health and well-being.

Physicians will agree that it’s easier to prevent an illness, than it is to treat one. I strongly maintain that there’s a parallel effect for the development, as well as the treatment, of mental health difficulties. It’s much easier to successfully treat symptoms of anxiety and depression when they are relatively milder. Failing to address symptoms of emotional distress at a less serious state of development will ultimately require utilization of much greater resources, of both time and money.

In addition to taking excellent care of your physical health, stop to think about the current status of your mental health. Are you basically satisfied with your quality of life? Do you have meaningful, mutually supportive relationships? Are you engaged in the type of work that you find valuable and rewarding? Do you allocate adequate time for rest and relaxation? Do you make sure to budget time for hobbies and recreation?

“More days than not, do you awaken with a sense of purpose in your life? Do you have interesting, meaningful ways to spend your time? ”

Furthermore, it’s important to periodically assess your level of selfesteem. Are you genuinely struggling with the same types of areas repeatedly? Have you truly made peace with your past, if it’s necessary to do so? Are you perhaps struggling with any form of addiction, whether it be to alcohol and/or other substances, working, eating, shopping, engaging in sex, or gambling?

More days than not, do you awaken with a sense of purpose in your life? Do you have interesting, meaningful ways to spend your time? Are you basically satisfied with where you happen to be at this point in your life, or are you always thinking that happiness is yet to emerge, at some future point?

It’s certainly critically important to take excellent care of your physical health. While doing so, please don’t needlessly neglect your overall mental well-being.