Atomic Habits for Mental Health

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Why would I think a vitamin could improve mental health? The short answer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dqXHHCc5lA
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There’s two ways to think about mental health, and I think a lot of people don’t realize they’re stuck in the first one. Most people believe that you either “have depression” or you don’t. That if you get diagnosed with depression or anxiety, it’s like a permanent trait that you have – and that all you can do is learn to cope with it.
I don’t think about depression or anxiety that way. I think of it on a scale- when your symptoms are severe they interfere with your life in a big way, when your symptoms are mild, or when your symptoms go away, it doesn’t interfere with your life anymore. Depression and Anxiety disorders can actually be resolved when we chip away at them. Thinking this way gives us agency, power to change our own lives.

Research shows that we can absolutely influence our mental health in huge ways. But the problem is, that all of these changes are hard and can feel super overwhelming when you’re drowning in anxiety or overwhelmed by depression.

And often when we get really motivated to improve our lives we try some huge change. And while you can willpower yourself to make those changes for a little while, willpower usually just doesn’t work as a long-term strategy. Then the bigger the changes you want to make, the more exhausting and overwhelming they are, which disincentivizes you from continuing them, it gets harder and harder and harder to do them instead of easier. So while you can willpower your way to doing them for a while, the most likely outcome is that you get exhausted and you quit and you’re more discouraged than when you start.

So making these huge changes rarely works- sometimes it does, but it just can’t be your only strategy. I love to give people tons of options to improve their mental health, but I know that this can be overwhelming. So in this video let’s talk about tiny yet powerful strategies that actually reward you for doing them- they make your life easier instead of harder. And then you get feeling better, you get more energy, and they become easier to do because they’re habitual, and with that extra energy you can add another on, and instead of feeling more and more tired, you feel more and more energetic and resilient. So in this video you’ll learn about tiny changes that take a few minutes a day to build atomic habits for mental health.

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Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health.
In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life’s direction.
And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe

If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services.
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