Those ominous words from Game of Thrones have taken on totally new (and dare we say intensified) meaning to Minnesotans this year. In an average year, the National Institute on Mental Health reports that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) impacts millions of Americans annually, lasts 40% of the year, and disproportionately impacts people living in the Northern parts of the country. This year, compounded by the pandemic, people who study and suffer from mental health are expecting this winter to be one of the worst on record. And similar to how hospital beds fill up with patients when there’s a virus outbreak, therapists have started filling up as we start to deal with the first wave of the mental health crisis.
So what do you do if you need to supplement therapy, can’t find a therapist, or don’t have the resources to get regular mental health care? We’ve got some tips to help you fight the good fight at home.
Try An App or Two
Track your mood so you know where you are at in an objective way: Daylio and eMoods are two popular choices, but there are many more to explore!
Practice your skills at home with ACT iCoach, What’s Up, or DBT Diary Card
Increase your practice of caring for you: Happy Not Perfect, Grateful, and Sleep Cycle help you take the headache out of self-care.
Use an app to use less apps: OffTime helps take the shaming out of screen-time management
Offline Solutions
Workbooks: There are so many, it’s hard to know where to start! You can find one based on an issue (anxiety, depression, self-esteem) or pick based on a particular approach that appeals to you (ACT, CBT, DBT). Whichever you choose, these can be great ways to increase insight, coping, and positive change.
SAD Lamp: Sure, it may seem silly, but these powerful lamps help you get your daily dose of sunshine, even on the most cloudy of days.
Body Maintenance: We all know to eat right, exercise, and take care of our bodies, and try to do it when we have the time and energy to. When we aren't attuned to our bodies, it can be easy to ignore or explain things away that actually might have an organic cause. Going to your doctor and making sure your vitamin levels are at their levels and that we have optimized what we have control over can be empowering. If you think it's needed or appropriate, talk to them about your mood and if any if there are any solutions, natural or pharmaceutical, that might be appropriate. We do maintenance updates on our phones and cars... we might as well do it for ourselves, too.
Done Everything? Try Alternative Solutions:
Healing crystals: Change up the energy in your life and ground yourself with some stones
Try something natural: Harvard Medical School found some benefits to things like St. John's Wort and Omega-3 Fats for mental health.
Try a homeopathic solution: Acupuncture, Massage, and Aroma Therapy might not feel as legitimate, but their benefits have been well researched and studied. If you've tried everything else, it might be worth a new approach.
Get Fancy (When/If Appropriate)
Meditate, with training wheels: Use a brain-sensing headband and app combination, like Muse, to give you bio-feedback on how you're doing on your practice of daily meditation.
Get your frequency right: Brain stimulators, like Fisher Wallace, can be helpful in treating and managing chronic issues of insomnia, depression, and anxiety.
Get your rhythm right: HearMath is a program to get your heart and your brain in sync.
Still unsure about how you're going to make it through the winter, give us a call or email us and we'll be happy to connect you to the right resources for you!
