A guy meets a girl. He enjoys spending quality time with her. The result of a such good relationship produces consequences that reflex in his behaviour. He has better mood, strong self-steem and an inclination to optimism. This is where the importance of positive relationships in mental health kicks in.
Relationships are what give us a sense of belonging. When we stablish a relationship with someone or with a group, a connection forms. And what comes out of that relationship categorically impact our state of mind.
Positive relationships and mental health
It is true that healthy and supportive relationships are recognized as the foundation of mental and emotional health. No matter how much effort and time that you devote in improving your emotional and mental health, you still need the help from others and it will make your feel great about yourself.
According to studies, humans are considered to be social creatures with a mental need for positive connections and relationships with others. Social brains of humans usually crave for companionship. Social interaction with other people provides an opportunity to express the issues you are having which can reduce stress.
The ultimate key that you need to find is a healthy and supportive relationship with someone who is perfect and a good listener. Find someone that you can talk to every day and who will listen to your agenda and life problems.
A perfect and good listener will listen to your feelings and won’t judge, criticize or interrupt you. If you really want to find a good listener, the first thing that you can do is to become a good listener too.
Develop a friendship with someone you can talk every day, listen to your life problems and challenges and support you without asking in return. Here, you will learn some important strategies and tips for connecting to other people without encountering any difficulties and hassles.
Essential strategies and tips for connecting to other people
When it comes to healthy relationships, it is very important that you have a clear and superior understanding about the salient strategies and tips that will greatly help you to easily connect to other people. With the help of these strategies and tips, you are assured that you can easily find someone who can listen and accompany you during your hardships in life.
Get out from behind your computer and TV screen
Computers and TVs can offer their own form of companionship and can be a stress reliever however they do not compare to interactions with other people. This is one of the reasons why you don’t need to neglect the real world healthy relationships in favor of your virtual interaction.
Spend more time with people you like to talk and deal with
It is very important to give more time to people you like to talk and deal with. Choose colleagues, family members, neighbors and friends who are positive, upbeat and interested in you. Take ample time to inquire about the people you meet and know more things about them.
Volunteer
Doing things that will help other people has an excellent effect on how you normally feel about yourself. The purpose and meaning you find in helping other people will expand and enrich your life. Charitable organizations, non-profits, churches and schools usually depend on volunteers for their survival.
Be an excellent joiner
It is highly recommended to join interest groups, conversations, social actions and networks that will give you a great chance to meet different ranges of people. These groups usually offer wondrous opportunities for finding various people with common likes and interests. Those people who you like to talk to and deal with are recognized as your potential friends.
The perks of healthy and supportive relationships
Strong and healthy relationships are essential to your healthy life and happiness. Individuals with perfect and good friendships have the ability to handle stress.
It is very important to find a friend who will help you during hardships in life. One of the best and effective ingredients of healthy and strong relationships is honest and open communication.
Work together to easily build and create a strong environment wherein both of you can feel secure and safe while expressing your dreams, hopes and feelings with one another. Here are some of the excellent communication skills that you need to enhance to come up with great results.
Empathy
This is considered as the ability to express and understand the interest of one another. It does not mean that you need to easily agree with it, all you need to do is to acknowledge it and at the same time try to understand. By doing this, you can show to them that you truly care.
Acceptance
You need to recognize that you don’t have the ability to make your friend change. It is very important to take responsibility for your own actions, attitudes and feelings. Trying to change your friend into the person you want them to be will not work. You can build strong and healthy relationships when you know the main purpose of acceptance.
Valuing others
You need to bear in mind that most people want to be loved, valued and appreciated. It is very imperative to pay attention to your interactions with friends. Let them feel that they are valued and important. In this way building healthy relationships is one step closer to you.
Listening
The last thing that you need to bear in mind, especially if you want to get a hold of a healthy and supportive relationship is to be a good listener. If you are chatting with your friends or family members, make it a habit to have eye to eye contact and an open posture. Avoid crossing your legs and arms. Before giving your opinion, allow them to finish their stories.
If you have these effective communication skills, you can be sure that you can easily acquire the strong and healthy relationships that you are seeking for.
Risk factors
Emotional and mental health continues to shape your life experiences. Early experiences during your childhood are really important. Biological and genetic factors play a significant role in your life however these two factors can also be changed by your life experiences.
If you want to get a hold of a better mind, better life and better living, it is very essential that you are familiar and aware about the risk factors that have the ability to compromise emotional and mental health. Here are some of the risk factors that can compromise your emotional and mental health.
Poor attachment and connection to your primary caretaker in life
Feeling abused, confused, unsafe, isolated and lonely as a young child or infant.
Serious losses and Traumas in life
Traumatic experiences that include hospitalization or war as well as sudden death of parents.
Learned Helplessness
Negative experiences and situations in life that usually lead to a certain belief can make you feel helpless. This is one of the reasons why you need to have control over the latest situations and happenings in your life.
Illness
This is considered as one of the risk factors that can affect your emotional and mental health especially when your illness is chronic, isolates and disables you from other people.
Side effects of your medications
This kind of risk factors usually happens to older people who are taking different types of medications for their illness and diseases. The side effects of their medications can compromise their emotional and mental health.
Substance Abuse
It is a fact that drug and alcohol abuse can cause emotional and mental health issues and problems. This can also make your mental health get worse.
External and internal factors
Whatever external and internal factors have shape your emotional and mental health, it is not too late for you to change and improve your psychological well-being. It is true that risk factors can be easily counteracted with effective protective factors such as coping strategies, healthy lifestyles and strong relationships for managing negative emotions and stress.
For those people who are encountering emotional and mental health issues and problems, the best thing that they can do is to immediately consult a professional psychiatrist who will greatly help them to regain their emotional and mental health.
Aside from this, you can also try stress management techniques, healthy lifestyles, supportive and healthy relationships and coping emotional strategies that will serve as your key and guide to easily bring back your emotional and mental health.
However if all your efforts did not work out, it simply means that this is the best time for you to consult a professional and reliable psychiatrist who will provide you with help, advice and guidance on how you can easily cope with your normal life.
There are various psychiatrists who specialize in the field of regaining emotional and mental health. They are the ones that you should consult and rest assured that they will greatly help you in bringing back your normal.
When do you need to see a professional?
If you already made all your efforts just to enhance your emotional and mental health, but still don’t feel good, it is the perfect time for you to seek professional help. Since most people are socially attuned, input from a reliable, knowledgeable and competent caring professional can motivate you to do things that will help you to regain your emotional and mental health. Here, you will discover the red flag behaviors and feelings that require immediate attention.
Red Flag Behaviors and Feelings of Having Emotional and Mental Health Problems
- Thoughts of suicide and death.
- Self destructive and negative thoughts and fears that you can’t immediately control.
- Using alcohol, drugs, food and nicotine to cope during hardships in line and difficult situations.
- Concentration problems that can interfere with your home and work life.
- Feeling helpless, hopeless and down throughout the day.
- Inability to have enough sleep.
If you notice that you have these red flag symptoms, the best thing that you can do is to set an appointment with your professional psychiatrist or emotional health professional.
There is a wide variety of emotional health specialist and professionals who will greatly help you to easily get rid of your emotional and mental health issues and problems.
It is very important that you choose the elite mental health specialist to make sure that you can come up with the best results. It is a fact that selecting the superb emotional health professional is not an easy task to do since it requires intensive research, time, commitment and dedication to obtain great results but it will be well worth it.
Emotional and mental health issues and problems have corresponding solutions. It should be treated ahead of time to keep it from getting worse. If you have loved ones who are experiencing emotional and mental health issues and problems, it is highly recommended to immediately seek professional help from mental health specialists and psychiatrists.
They are the ones who can provide them with appropriate and effective therapy and medication that will help them to easily regain their normal life. However, don’t forget to try some of the helpful strategies and techniques to control emotional and mental health issues and problems.
Seeking professional help from experts as soon as possible can help patients to easily recover from their situations. It is true that emotional and mental health problems are a serious health conditions that need proper attention and medication.
If their condition is not properly attended, there is a great chance that symptoms will get worse and treating them will require a long duration of time. If you want to have a better mind, better life and better living, this is the best time for you to take good care of your emotional and mental health. Being emotionally and mentally healthy will greatly help you to execute your daily activities perfectly and effectively.
Conclusion
We hope that we have layed out extensively the importance of positive relationships in mental health. Because if our relationships are not toxic and are truly based on principles, we can keep a mental stability that allows us to manage and deal with most of what we face in life.
David is a writer and graduate professor. He writes for different websites. With 7+ years of experience in writing and education, David has combined his expertise in teaching with his passion for physical and mental wellness. He researches and writes to bring you valuable information about weight loss, nutrition, fitness, community, society and more.