Why Medication is Only Half the Battle

Like the title states, medication is only half of the battle; granted it’s still a very important aspect, but it's not the only thing. The more effectively you can implement other things into your treatment, essentially the more effective your all-around treatment will be. These few things can help immensely with your treatment, and your life in general. Also even though they seem straightforward, implementing them into your own life takes a lot of time and effort.

Coping Strategies & Triggers

Triggers aren't always negative things, but in this example they are. Essentially a trigger is something that you relate to an experience. Such as a negative thing that happened to you in the past, and something reminds you of that experience. It can be sensory, psychological or physical, really it can be anything. It totally depends on the person and how they relate to it.

Building strong coping strategies, through learning how to relate to the negative thing causing the trigger in the first place. Through understanding yourself and how you react and deal with it. Then learning a more productive way to deal with it. So that in the future, it doesn’t cause you to have such a negative reaction to it.

Healthy Habits

People in today's world have a difficult enough time with sticking to healthy habits. Whether it's going to the gym or eating properly, or how you treat yourself and let others treat you, etc. With mental health issues it can be even more difficult, not that it's impossible, it's simply that you need to take more into consideration. Due to having more variables that come into play with how you and your well-being.

The best plan of attack for building healthy habits, especially when it's in relation to exercise and diet. Involves taking a realistic approach, by ignoring things such as fad diets, and other unproductive things. That really does much more harm than they do good. As well, having a good exercise routine, that's well balanced and focused on getting healthy. Instead of being centered on gaining muscle in an unrealistic time frame or getting skinny. Also just because a celebrity is saying that something is good for you or bad for you, doesn't mean they are experts.

Listening to Proper Medical Advice

We live in a very Dunning-Kruger world. Where almost everyone believes that they are an expert, but in actuality they really aren't. Given, there are good doctors and bad doctors, but doctors know a lot more about being a doctor than someone whose experience is primarily from watching YouTube videos.

Without the proper training, qualifications, experience and training. You are not an expert, plain and simple! Without the right tools and resources, you will not be properly equipped when it comes to dealing with your mental health treatment and your life in general. I have a BA in Psychology and also a diploma in Human Services, and by no means do I even consider myself an expert. Granted I am very well informed about modern mental health practices but I have lots to learn still. Remember that your doctor or therapist has your best interests, if you have any questions or concerns about your health or treatment. Ask them, because that’s what they are there for.

Toxic Relationships

People who treat you badly, and are abusive. Whether they are someone you have dated, a relative or anyone really for that affair. People who take more than they give, and do nothing other than make you feel like you're less of a person or guilty for not giving into them. Honestly, aren’t worth your time, to quote a previous article that I wrote.

"We need to make decisions to cut some people completely out of our lives as our relationships with them may be causing us more harm than good, because regardless of how much we think they love us and we love them you can't make them be the person you want them to be. This can be an extremely decision to make and an even more difficult decision for an individual to enact. In the long run, you will be much happier."

Yourself

Developing a solid sense of self-awareness and self-acceptance gives you the opportunity to work on yourself. These are significant because they help you to see what you are doing that can help you or hinder you.

Also the more you understand yourself, the better you understand your medical condition, and the things that affect it. Then you can with your doctor, regarding what's going on with you. Which gives them a more accurate understanding of you and your health. Which gives them the ability to process and diagnose you more accurately.

In conclusion, remember, it's all about doing the right thing for you. Even though sometimes this can involve stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something that you aren't familiar with.

Which is why asking the right questions to the people who are trained to answer those questions, and listening to them is so important. While also realizing the role that you play in your own treatment and life, and working on the things that you struggle with at the same time.