{"id":30155,"date":"2016-01-12T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=30155"},"modified":"2017-09-27T12:24:00","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T19:24:00","slug":"5-steps-to-getting-the-support-you-need-and-deserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/5-steps-to-getting-the-support-you-need-and-deserve-0112154","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps to Getting the Support You Need and Deserve"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Woman<\/a><\/p>\n

Having a mental health issue<\/a> can be very isolating<\/a>. You may feel like no one understands the pain and despair you experience. Because of this, you might keep your condition to yourself, confiding in no one. This is not uncommon.<\/p>\n

The stigma<\/a> surrounding mental health doesn\u2019t help. Many people are hesitant to open up about their struggles out of concern for being judged and thus go to great lengths to hide their conditions from coworkers, friends, even family members.<\/p>\n

People with depression<\/a> and anxiety<\/a>, among other issues, often isolate because of lack of energy or because they are unsure how to get support. Being open about a mental health\u00a0condition constitutes taking a risk, which can feel scary. Not everyone may be supportive, some people don’t know how to help, and some people in your life may choose to remain ignorant.<\/p>\n

A mental health condition has nothing to do with what kind of person you are. It doesn\u2019t mean you overreact to things, that you\u2019re \u201cjust\u201d feeling down, that you\u2019re incompetent, that you\u2019re weak, or that you\u2019re \u201ccrazy.\u201d Just as people who struggle with a physical health issue need and deserve support, people with a mental health issue need and deserve the same.<\/p>\n

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Find a Therapist<\/a><\/h2>\n\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\tAdvanced Search<\/a>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n

Contacting a therapist<\/a> is a great step in the right direction, of course, as a professional is best positioned to help you understand the factors contributing to what you\u2019re feeling and can\u00a0point you toward helpful resources. He or she can\u2019t replicate the compassion<\/a> and empathy<\/a> of close friends or family members, however.<\/p>\n

So how can you find the support you need? Here are five considerations to help you get\u00a0what you need when you need it most.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Learn as much as you can\u00a0about your condition so you can explain to others what you experience. <\/strong>Many people’s only source of information about mental health is what is portrayed in the media, which more often than not is inaccurate or even demeaning. But if you can describe what it\u2019s like to live with bipolar<\/a>, for example, you can inform others and help them understand how they can best support you. By educating yourself, you can educate others.<\/li>\n
  2. Identify someone you think might be a support to you. <\/strong>Whether a friend or family member, this should be a person you trust, who has displayed compassionate tendencies in the past. Again, not everyone will understand, want to understand, or be able to help.<\/li>\n
  3. Think about what you hope to get out of the conversation you will have with this person.<\/strong> Are you looking for someone to vent to (\u201cWork was so rough today that I spent 30 minutes in the bathroom crying\u201d), or would you like help solving a problem (\u201cI\u2019m so anxious that I need help getting to the grocery store\u201d)? Be specific about what you need and why you need it: \u201cI\u2019m feeling really stressed<\/a> right now and could really use someone to talk to,\u201d or, \u201cMy depression is making it hard for me to get out of bed each day and take care of my house and family. Do you have any suggestions?\u201d Practice asking for what you need.<\/li>\n
  4. Recognize that some people may be better at supporting you than others.<\/strong> The first person you confide in may not understand. Keep sharing until you\u2019ve found the person or people who can support you. If someone you asked for help cannot follow through, understand that it\u2019s not something you\u2019re doing wrong. They may be dealing with their own struggles and simply not have enough energy or wisdom<\/a> to help you with yours.<\/li>\n
  5. Don\u2019t rely on just one person.<\/strong> Try to build a support network, one person at a time. This way, if one friend or your partner can’t talk right away, there are others you can reach out to.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It should not go unacknowledged that, for some people, finding support is exceedingly\u00a0difficult. People whose pool of family and trusted friends is limited or nonexistent may feel like they have no one to turn to. However, there is always someone who not only will listen but wants<\/em> to listen\u2014whether it’s a therapist, a pastor or church member, or someone who volunteers for a crisis line<\/a>. There is always support. The key is summoning the strength to ask for it, something everyone must do at one time or another.<\/p>\n

    Mental health conditions are very common, so keep sharing; chances are, sooner or later someone you confide in will have dealt with their own struggles. You shouldn’t have to go it alone. Each time you are open about your condition, you decrease the stigma and ignorance surrounding mental health issues. Little by little, we can change the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If you’re experiencing a mental health issue, you shouldn’t have to go it alone. Here are five steps to finding the support you need outside the therapy office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2491,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[542,623],"tags":[183,31,161,25],"class_list":["post-30155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-articles","category-issues-treated","tag-anxiety","tag-psychotherapy-practice","tag-depression","tag-psychotherapy-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2491"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}