A world where every third or fourth person is a victim of mental illness that comes to such an extent that people start to hear voices, have visions, are overwhelmed by their fears and sadness depriving them of leading a meaningful and healthy life; a recovery perspective is essentially needed.
In the previous article, I talked about the terms “positive psychiatry”, “well-being”, and “mental health” and how these terms make an impact on our day-to-day lives. Here, I’ll provide some recovery aspects for the ones who are already suffering from it. For this, we need to prioritize mental health above anything else. By using the simple concept that if your mind is not happy, you can never be happy, you can save multiple lives. Recovery is of two types. One is clinical recovery which refers to the mere absence of symptoms of mental illness or a significant reduction in those which can help you to lead a normal life. Personal recovery is way more than it. It is an individual recovery, about how you shape yourself and overcome after you have clinically recovered bringing you one step closer at a time than where you were before.
Though recovery from mental illness is possible with medications, it should be considered the last option if nothing else works. Some of the recovery perspectives not involving medications are-
Exercise-
Not only physical health but mental health also is benefitted by normal exercises and workouts. This can include heavy to moderate to light exercises which can further include walking, cycling, running, skipping, jogging, etc. Remember that you don’t always need to go to a gym for exercising. As loneliness might be an issue, exercising with a company or in groups can be beneficial.
Yoga
Often called moving meditation, yoga is a combination of exercise and meditation. Various asanas from Pranayam to Samadhi result in enhanced focus and concentration with full alertness and consciousness. It facilitates mind-body connection and provides stress response by balancing the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Yoga Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is useful for depression, anxiety, and stress.
Having a good sleep
Nearly one-third of the population suffers from insomnia, a sleep disorder where staying or falling asleep is difficult for many causing problems in the regular activities of an individual and reducing their efficiency. Change in lifestyle and other rituals can help in changing sleep patterns and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) plays a major role in insomnia patients.
Nutrition
Not just our body, but our mind too respond in the way we eat. Unhealthy diet risks both your mental and physical health causing early death. People who eat a healthy diet and low processed food are seen to have low risks for any sort of disorder. By improving diet, many can overcome their depressive symptoms and other stress disorders.
Relaxation and mindfulness
Irritability, nausea, stress, knots in the stomach, shivering, and shaking are some of the fight, flight, and fright responses developed by our body for survival mechanisms. To calm ourselves, relaxation strategies like different kinds of breathing exercises (mediation breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, deep breathing, bubble breathing, etc) and progressive muscle relaxation (where you tire and relax a particular muscle in your body) are useful. Mindfulness is focusing on the present moment, becoming aware of how we feel, how we breathe, and what is happening around us. Mindfulness has been very beneficial in stress reduction and tranquilizing your mind and body.
