People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Life hits hard. And when it knocks you down, getting back up can be even harder. So writer Beth McColl made a list of “baby steps” that people who struggle with their mental health can take in order to get back on their feet.

“Try to pick a few and do them, but if you can’t, that’s valid too,” she tweeted sharing the tips.

Even though the thread is a few years old, its content is timeless. With everything that’s going on in the world, we need to find time for ourselves more than ever. According to Mental Health America, even before COVID-19, the prevalence of mental illness among adults was increasing. In 2017-2018, 19% of adults experienced a mental illness, an increase of 1.5 million people over last year’s dataset.

Throughout 2020, the number of people screening with moderate to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety continued to increase and remains higher than rates prior to COVID-19.

So let’s revisit McColl’s thread. It’s worth it even if it helps just one person.

Image credits: imteddybless

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: imteddybless

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: imteddybless

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: imteddybless

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: imteddybless

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: imteddybless

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: imteddybless

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: imteddybless

Dr. Tamar Chansky, who is a licensed psychologist and the Founder of the Children’s and Adult Center for OCD and Anxiety in Plymouth Meeting, PA, told Bored Panda that people don’t have it together one hundred percent of the time. Ups and downs are normal.

“Anxiety that comes and goes is part of the human experience,” Dr. Chansky said. “But when anxiety takes on a life of its own, in other words, it’s not in response to a stressor, it’s a default setting and feels uncontrollable, interferes with one’s functioning or negatively impacts the subjective experience of life and well-being, then we consider the anxiety at a clinical level.”

The author of Freeing Your Child from Anxiety and Freeing Yourself from Anxiety has an article on her website, called Name that (Worry) Tune: How to Catch Worry Early, Before it Catches You. It’s a comprehensive read that also tries to help people to regain control — just like McColl’s thread.

“The key to ending the torturous repetition of anxious thoughts comes from that classic television game show where you win by being able to recognize a tune from just the first few notes,” Dr. Chansky writes. “Instead of dropping everything when you hear—’You screwed up!’ or ‘How do you know it’s going to work out?’ and launching yourself on a worry mission to identify and address every single negative outcome you can imagine, save yourself the trip. And the anguish. Everyone’s worry sounds the same. Right? Mine, yours, your Uncle Joey’s, the equivalent of Uncle Joey half-way across the globe. What does that tell us?”

The psychologist explains that “if we can name that tune of Depression’s Greatest Hits and Worry Classics, instead of thinking that these doubts and fears mean something specific about you, you can realize that they mean something universal about change or uncertainty.”

“It’s a knee-jerk neurological reaction to not knowing. Nothing more, nothing less,” Cr. Chansky adds. So when you hear the tell-tale, ‘what if?’ or, ‘oh no!’ give your anxiety a nod and acknowledge its presence. However, you then have to get back on track with what you were doing before you were so (rudely) interrupted. “Your best information comes from your thoughtful mind, not the jumpy part that’s ready to give up or freak out at the blink of an eye.”

Fire up Dr. Chansky’s piece to learn more strategies to quickly pinpoint and dismiss the sound of worry.

Here’s what people said about the list after it went viral

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: amisha_kaur25

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: clampvulture

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: BradfordLee87

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: Yuliy

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: Cup0fAmbition

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: uhhhwhat__

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: ivanleegee

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: __Just_Josh

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: admiralalade3n

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: sandlord13

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: GothamKnight967

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: Cecinatrix

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: imteddybless

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: AlisonChrista

People Are Applauding This Twitter Thread That Lists Actions People Struggling With Their Mental Health Can Take To Feel Better

Image credits: To_Thriving

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.

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What do you think ?

POST

Calypso poet 3 years ago

Easy to say it, doing it is another thing sometimes.☹️

18points

K1tt3n 3 years ago

That's true, but even putting in the smallest amount of effort for any one thing on this list will give you a sense of purpose or at least make you feel good about accomplishing something, you know? I know how hard it is to even do the simplist task sometimes, but, you at least should try! I believe in you!🖤

19points

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DuchessDegu 3 years ago

Just having something to drink, water or juice, it'll help. Even slight dehydration can make you feel even worse and that's purely physical. Once your body feels a little bit better it'll make it easier to get up and try to do something else. My main motivator to get out of bed some days is to feed the birds.

3points

v 3 years ago (edited)

I've used quite a few of the tools in this list throughout my life when battling depression but I've used the tools in a slightly different manner than presented here. I don't remember when I learned the trick but I learned, none the less, to identify the thing that was the trigger for a given period of depression. It's never an instantaneous identification. It could take days, weeks or even a couple of months. Once the trigger was identified I'd use a variety of the tools listed above to kick the ever loving s**t out of the triggering incident. Here again, it was never an instantaneous change. It always took time. I've come to look at my depression episodes as my brain attempting to pull rank on my for its own idiotic reasons and I long ago came to the decision that I wouldn't let it win in the fight. Our brains aren't even fully understood by the best and brightest in the field so there's no reason that you, I or anyone else should be able to understand our own brains any better. I hope that your depressive periods aren't too many or too consistent. I hope that you find the strength to persevere. And, above all, I hope that you are able to find a weapon in the arsenal (they are legion, though not always easily identified) available to you to kick the s**t out of your brain when it decides to turn asshole dictator on you.

3points

Ozacoter 3 years ago

True but trying to do some tends to make me feel better, to feel more useful

1point

Val 3 years ago (edited)

I feel you. For me it helps to remember that what I'm feeling is only temporary (I don't know your situation of course, but for me it helps). Give yourself time to mourn/feel depressed, sometimes you need a little down time to bounce back up. There's no deadline here.

0points

Andi Sugiarta 3 years ago

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Mike Crow 3 years ago

My psychologist has told me most of these and they can help.

12points

Ms.GB 3 years ago

This is probably the best advice i've ever received and I've gone to therapy....maybe it's time for me to find a new therapist, the last 2 gave me packets of homework to do...that's a great idea but unobtainable when I'm struggling to shower daily and brush my teeth.

3points

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