Drugs, alcohol and mental health
I’m not one for drinking alcohol but I do know many people who manage to take alcohol and can still maintain a decent living with their work, family life, relationships etc. These are people without mental health conditions.
Mixing alcohol and/or drugs with a mental health condition is only asking for trouble! These already distort reality and can only push you closer to the edge if you have a pre-existing mental health condition. There are also dangerous contraindications if alcohol is mixed with drugs prescribed for mental health conditions. If you have a mental health condition and have to take medication, you will see it clearly written on the accompanying leaflet DO NOT TAKE ALCOHOL.
Refusing to take your medication
Mental health and money
Just like everyone else, if you have a mental health condition, you have to take steps to ensure that your finances are not put at risk. You will have to maintain your standard of living, keep up with savings and live a frugal lifestyle.
This will ensure that you do not have additional stressors to make your situation worse. Here is a post about taking care of your personal finances. I am sure you will find it useful and will also find useful tips to make even more money in a short amount of time. These are steps that I have taken and I can tell you that they work.
Relying on self-help for your mental health
Taking on too much will affect your mental health
When I worked as a teacher, it took me some time to realise that some of my mental anguish and stress were self inflicted. Sure, I had too much on, and I suffered with insomnia, but I also was too quick to say yes to everything that everyone wanted me to do.
Even though I would be sat with hundreds of books to mark, I would still invite students back for help with coursework (in my time), ring parents who asked me to, volunteer for after school activities and plan and organise International exchange programs for the school.
It was only after I resigned from my teaching job and sat down to evaluate things that I realised that I could have said no to so many things!
You will never be able to do it all. And it’s a good practice to ask at work what task, job or activity they’d like you to forego in order to take on the new one being piled on.
At home, divide the tasks according to everyone’s age and ability. There’s no where where it is written that you should do it all. If you do, you will only find that your mental health suffer tremendously.
Too much stuff is bad for mental health
I am loving this era of Marie Kondo. The more I declutter, the more I feel stress free. Having too much stuff in your home leads to stress. I am aiming to have at least half of the ‘stuff’ that I had.
Getting rid of some stuff can also make you money too. Try selling on eBay or Facebook marketplace and put aside your money for more fun experiences like holidays, rather than more stuff.
Quite helpful…most of us include these basics…
Lots of people do, but there’s a large number of people who fail to admit that they do have mental health issues. It is those people that I am trying to reach out to!
Thanks for popping by and for your feedback
Mental health is often seemed as a taboo topic. Hopefully people reading this would take one step forward in awareness!
That’s so true. Even when I was to click publish after writing the post, I had to pray that I would not be offending anyone I know!
Thanks so much for stopping by. Do you write about these issues too?
Hi Joleisa
There are many things that has effect on our life. Mostly drugs have worst effect. I am a doctor by profession and I have many patients who are addicted to drugs and alcohol . I always suggest rehab center to them. But I really don’t understand how people can play with their life.
Well, Hope for the good 🙂 🙂
redroadrecovery
Hi, not always but often there are malnutrision with minerals and vitamins when you are not ok, eg to much copper and to little zinc affect the mental healht, even up to psychotic. There are coming more and more studies that’s look into this.
I think I understand what you are trying to say. The point is though, if we do have mental health problems, we should be careful with what we do so that things don’t become worse.
Great article! I think its so very important for people that suffer with mental health conditions to take care of themselves, especially financially. I can see how this would put them at further risk. Thanks for sharing!
This is a great article! Most people just write off mental health problems as someone seeking attention, but they are serious issues that should be dealt with and keeping certain things out of your life definitely helps improve mental health as well as keeping those with mental health problems in a better state of mind.
Totally agreed with Shelby. I see too many people with mental health issues dabbling with other things and making their conditions worse. Help me to spread the message wont you?
Thank you for the info.
If the soul is not healed the body can not live:)
I don’t know if this is the counts but there was a time in my life where shopping was my escape. I am an emotional shopper. Whenever I feel upset I hit the mall and I will spend on things I don’t need. It’s that feeling of buying something, anything – even if it’s buying with someone else’s money – that makes me feel good. I’ve gotten a lot better, but I totally agree with not letting one’s finance become affected because of your mental health.
These are so true. The hardest one for me is money. We are on one income (by choice) but things get tight and it gets stressful and can really mess with my mental health. I try to always be conscious of spending responsibly so that it never gets to be too much for me mentally.
There is indeed a big number of people who fail to accept they have a problem. It is really sad.
I was having a major breakdown recently, and it has been one of the stressful condition to be in. I need to take a break from things and to calm myself from overload work or personal matters. Talking about Marie Kondo, I recently started to minimize my stuff too. And I finally able to see improvements in my life.
I was mentally sick last couple of month before and I know how much it affected my personal life. Thanks for sharing this great topics.
Nicole Pilland recently posted…How Focusing on Your Faith Can Help with Depression & Anxiety
I definitely find that taking on too much and feeling overwhelmed is really detrimental to my mental health. Great post to raise awareness! Charlie xo
This is super helpful information! I totally relate with taking on too much. It honestly gets me every time! Truth be told it is all I know how to do but this makes me stop and think. THANK YOU
Thanks for stopping by, Shaylyn. We do have to do our best to preserve what we have left of our mental health. Do have a lovely day.
Jo and Leisa
i totally agree with everything you said, and this post is really well-written! thank you for sharing 🙂 x