Wednesday 13 February 2013

 Mental Health and Triggers


A lot of mental health problems can be brought on by certain triggers. Poverty, stress, seasonal changes and poor diet to name but a few. The key to maintaining good mental health is to find out what your triggers are and find ways to avoid them. I am not saying that this will be a cure for your mental health problems but, recognising when your mental health is suffering means that you can seek help earlier and the quicker you get the treatment you need the quicker you will be back in good health.
So how do you recognise your triggers? One of the best ways I have found is to keep a mental health diary. 

The diary should be written as below.
On a scale of one to ten, one being miserable and ten being very happy write e.g.

MOOD 4 Struggled to get up but went to work, did nothing for the rest of the day.

Breakfast.     Cup of coffee, skipped eating
Lunch           Cheese and ham toastie and mug of tea.
Dinner          Spagetti bolognese and mug of tea.
Snacks etc.   Mars bar, two more coffees and a half bottle of wine.
Washed face, brushed teeth, wore same clothes as yesterday. 

STRESS 9
Stress level should be written in the same way as mood one being no stress ten being ready to explode.

When done on a daily basis you can then look back and see what you did on each of the days that you feel miserable and compare what you did, had etc. If any of the things match try to avoid them, you will soon know what your triggers are. Avoiding them in the future is then down to you.
This method won't work for everyone but, it is certainly worth trying. Many people don't realise that what they consume on a daily basis impacts on the way we feel. Simple dietary changes can make a huge difference to how we feel.
One of the first things you may notice when your mental health starts to deteriorate is that your personal hygiene may suffer so, keeping track of that is a key part in recognising that you may be getting unwell.
Medication is not always the answer. Sometimes it is the simple things that we neglect that are the cause and if we recognise the cause we can then fix the problem.
I am campaigning to have the mental health laws changed. If you believe that we need better laws, take action and sign the petition. Stop Over Medicating Mental Health Patients


 



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