Reddit Mental Health Truths Part 2

A few weeks ago we took a look at some “mental health truths” from the depths of reddit and I thought it would be worth a sequel.

I was original inspired by a thread on reddit about 'mental heath truths' that seem cruel but there's an element of truth to them. Naturally lots of people on the internet have lots of opinions (about everything!) but I thought it could be interesting to take a look at some fo the top voted comments.

For our sequel post, let’s start with a big one:

“Everything has a limit; people's time, their energy and their feelings towards you all have a limit. ….

Being grateful that people take time and use their energy to be kind, compassionate, and patient with you is a choice they are making because they love you. But all of those things can run out if you don't get your shit together.”

Oooft. This is a harsh one but there is an element of truth. It’s important to recognise that the people around us, the people who are supporting us, are people too. They have feelings just as we do and they can be hurt by how we treat them and how our behaviour affects them, even when our behaviour is coming from poor mental health. In the first part we looked at mental illness not being our fault, but it is our responsibility and we need to be prepared to take responsibility for our recovery.

If we don’t take action and the people who love us are watching us go through the same patterns time after time and potentially hurt them over and over, those same people might have to take action to safeguard their own mental health.

Now there is a lot of support out there, counselling being one of them, but people will be more encouraged to support us if they know we’re actively working to try to improve things.

..”you need to.. be realistic about your life choices.”

Sometimes looking after our mental health means being realistic about what isn’t helping or what is actively working against it.

We know alcohol (particularly regular drinking to excess) can have a negative effect on mental health and make pre-existing mental health issues worse. We also know that smoking cannabis can be a risk factor to developing mental health issues, with a link to psychosis and schizophrenia.

Self-soothing behaviours whether that’s something like alcohol or drugs, or something like buying something to try to help us feel better, might not be the best thing for us and we need to be prepared to challenge them and replace them with healthier ones.

“You are the one you have been waiting for.”

Now this is one I want to end with. If we want to feel better and make a positive change when it comes to our mental health, we don’t need to wait around for a saviour; we can decide to do that today. That doesn’t mean that we need to do everything ourselves, but we can decide to reach out and ask for the help that’s out there.

If you’d like to work with me on your mental health, you can get in touch with me via the website or drop me a message directly at mckellarcbt@gmail.com