The Pressure of daily tasks makes maintaining a healthy mindset extremely challenging.
From pressure at work to pressure in our personal lives, or even pressure that stems from spending hours consuming virtually any information from social media, mental health is usually not a priority.
But it is crucial to understand that the behavioral change and changed perception can help you tremendously in improving your mental status.
In this regard, at Athena BHS, we work under the premise of giving individuals the means to support themselves in their best sense, both mentally and emotionally.
Below are some of the common measures that we can take to assist the concerned individual in modifying their behavior and thinking patterns for improved psychological well-being:
Understanding the Mind-Behavior Connection
It will be necessary to talk about the interaction of our thoughts, actions, and mental state as being very close.
The now-popular approach in therapeutic practice, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is grounded on the principle that thoughts cause emotions and actions.
It is important to understand that cognitive intervention is possible and can help people overcome various mental health problems if they replace negative patterns of thinking and acting.
Identifying Negative Thought Patterns
The first of them is to note negative thoughts; as a rule, the further improvement of behavior and thinking is carried out based on their definition.
They are often also unconscious and, therefore, may be rather difficult to identify. Common negative thought patterns include:
Catastrophizing:
This is the assumption of the worst or a complete negative event occurring.
Overgeneralizing:
Jumping to conclusions or assuming a generalized outcome of an event based solely on a single instance.
Black-and-White Thinking:
Polarized perception of events, where no two things can have any middle or even meet in the middle.
Personalization:
self-destructive strategies for handling conflict and stress, such as perceived self-responsibility for situations that are beyond anyone’s control.
Action Step:
Write a free write-up of at least 2 pages to get your thoughts flowing. When you find yourself in a state of anxiety or depression, it is important that you put down on paper what you are thinking.
This is where they look for common patterns and endeavor to determine whether they are among the negative thought patterns highlighted above.
Challenging negative thoughts
The second process is questioning. If you have come across some negative thought patterns, then the next step is to dispute them.
This means engaging in the practice of challenging the credibility of these thoughts and taking time to look at rationality from a different angle
Action Step:
For every negative idea you have listed, you need to answer the following questions:
What are the facts that underpin this thought?
What evidence proves this is not true?
Is there a possibility that the conflict can be seen from another perspective, which would be less threatening?
It becomes easier to minimize the impact that negative thoughts have on a person’s emotions and actions.
Reframing Negative Thoughts
Reframing is the process that involves changing a perception that one has and instead seeing a situation from a different perspective all together.
This does not mean denying them or being overly positive about the situation; rather, there is a more constructive way to think about it.
Action Step:
Try out “approach angle thinking” by getting another perspective on particular problems.
Instead of saying things like “I stink at something,” you should, for instance, replace it with “I was not good today at doing that, but I have been successful in the past.”
Behavioral Changes for Better Mental Health
Mental health is also affected by behavior change since it plays a big role in our lifestyle.
Here are some useful recommendations to improve your lifestyle and follow the positive change process:
Setting Realistic Goals
This, coupled with the ability to set and achieve achievable objectives, really provides a morale boost to an individual and makes him/her feel like a ‘winner.’
It also emphasizes making small strides before leaping to the next level, and the process applies when implementing the goals.
Action Step:
Don’t be vague in your goals and objectives; help yourself to achieve success in small stages.
It is much more effective to set a goal rather than simply say, “I want to get fit.” Therefore, the goal will be to walk for 20 minutes, three times a week.
If you use this approach, you may start with easier tasks and make the difficulty progressively harder as you progress through your to-do list.
Developing healthy habits
Exercise, a good diet, and proper sleeping patterns can go a long way in preventing or treating mental illness.
Among the benefits, exercise plays an important role as it produces endorphins, which have mood-enhancing properties.
Action Step:
Change the style and add healthy habits to your daily routine, you should take the following steps:
Exercise: Make a schedule and stick to it; choose healthy foods. plan and execute, and follow bedtime routines.
To Practicing Mindfulness:
Mindfulness, in its essence, means active awareness—one focuses on something and puts all of their efforts into what they’re doing.
Anxiety, depression, and other diseases can be lowered, work performance can be increased, and attention and managing emotions can be improved.
Action Step:
To embrace mindfulness, make a point of dedicating time throughout the day to mindfulness practice.
This could be through meditation, ‘taking a few deep breaths’, or fully engaging in what for most people is a daily routine.Building a Support Network
Maintaining friendships, real-life and virtual interactions, and socializing generally are essential to a healthy brain.
Having sympathetic aides and officers who can understand what one is going through can act as a counterbalance to stress.
Action Step:
Do not underestimate the value of your friendships and family ties; invest your time and effort into strengthening these bonds.
If there is a need for it in the form of words, then do not be afraid to get support from friends and family as well as specialists.
Avoiding Harmful Behaviors
There are several habits you should avoid if you want to be healthy mentally, for instance, drug and alcohol use, a lack of time management, and spending too much time in front of the computer.
Reducing such behaviors can make a massive difference in enhancing the overall behavior within the premises.
Action Step:
Self-monitor your personal behavior and try to recognize any negative actions and replace them with more positive ones.
For instance, ensure children have limited screen time, or, in the case of teenagers, get the adolescent an intervention for substance use.
Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques
Cognitive-behavioral interventions complement the basic program in the right direction.
Here are the ways in which these techniques can be incorporated into everyday life.
Cognitive Restructuring:
Cognitive restructuring is the process where specific negative patterns of thinking are modified and replaced by better patterns.
This is a common technique used in CBT and can be done on one’s own, but a therapist can help one do it.
Action Step:
The therapist can help the patient recognize negative and unrealistic thoughts and modify them.
It is essential that the above techniques are done often so that they become muscle memory.
Behavioral Activation:
Behavioral activation is an approach that tries to enhance the relevant behavior’s activational component.
It can reduce depression and thus improve the general well-being and life satisfaction of the patient.
Action Step:
A set of activities that can help define the concept of meaningful and enjoyable are:
To take care of your organization and time, schedule time for these activities as follows:
Take time within the week to track your progress.
Exposure Therapy
It is perhaps for this reason that exposure therapy is considered highly suitable for use in treating anxiety disorders.
It helps in modifying behavior patterns with the help of a therapist, where slowly the patient gets exposed to a particular condition that causes him or her discomfort.
Action Step:
List feared situations with the help of a therapist and make a list ranked by significance.
Avoid generalizing and exposing yourself to these situations in the beginning; instead, begin with the least possible degree of anxiety or stress.
Seeking professional help
The process of altering your behavior and thought patterns for the sake of enhancing your overall mental well-being can be a slow, challenging process, but it is an important one as well.
Overcoming negativity involves cognitive restructuring, changing unhealthy habits, and seeking help whenever the need arises at an aggregated level.
Just always bear in mind that, as Athena BHS always says, we are always there for your assistance whenever you need it.
Start improving your mental health; this is the first step towards the long journey to recovery.
Call us today at +91 9289086193 or drop us an email at customercare@athenabhs.com and we will get back to you to support you as soon as possible.
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