This is good news! The healthiest and happiest people are those who have a periodic mental health check-up.
If we make one physicians appointment after another for infection, illness, aches and pains, and yet ignore our mental health, we do ourselves a great injustice, one that costs us dearly in energy, time and money. There is a saying that there is no health without mental health. Mental and physical health are always linked; we cannot address one without the other.
Carrying emotional baggage, turmoil, or depression will inevitably bring along increased physical ailments.
Anxiety feels like:
- Constant worrying thoughts, often about the illness and its treatment
- Fearing the worst, for example, that our illness will get worse or that we might die
- Being very aware of our heart beating (palpitations)
- Tension and pains in our muscles
- Being unable to relax
- Sweating
- Breathing too fast (hyperventilating)
- Feeling dizzy
- Feeling faint
- Indigestion and diarrhea
Depression feels like:
- Feelings of unhappiness that don’t go away, and are there nearly all the time
- Losing interest in life
- Being unable to enjoy anything
- Finding it hard to make even simple decisions
- Feeling utterly tired
- Feeling restless and agitated
- Losing appetite and weight (some people find they do the reverse and put on weight)
- Difficulty in sleeping and waking up earlier than usual
- Losing interest in sex
- Losing self-confidence and feeling useless, inadequate and hopeless
- Avoiding other people
- Feeling irritable
- Feeling hopeless about ourselves, our situation and the world generally. We may feel as if we are never going to get better, or that we are worthless
- Thinking of suicide – common with depression, but must be openly talked about with a trained professional
Expressing real feelings to close friends or family members can be difficult; however, doing so with a trained professional can be easier and non-threatening. He or she can help you with perspective and finding ways to sort out your problems.
Therapy/counseling consists of:
- A trusting relationship between the client and the professional
- An opportunity to talk freely and openly about your thoughts, feelings and problems
- Help coping with worrying thoughts, bad feelings and practical problems
- Debriefing and coming to terms with past issues
- Help with direction and coping skills
- Coming to terms with our past, and making good sound decisions for our future
- Professional guidance and coaching in terms of life’s challenges
Contact my office: 989.895.8356 to schedule a Mental Health Check-Up. An improved life is available.
God’s blessings,
Dr. Sherry Baker LPC
