I want to start this off by saying, there is no perfect way to determine that it might be time for you to start medication for your mental health. This is something that should be closely monitored by you, your therapist, and your doctor(s).
So how did I, a mental health professional, decide it was time to start taking medication for me mental health?
The short of it is this, I was spending more than 50% of my day (almost everyday) coping and I was exhausted.
I’m no stranger to checking in with my feelings/mental health every day. Sometimes I even check in on my mental wellness multiple times a day and then usually make a plan of action for how to best maintain my mental health or treat it as a way to improve it. I also have a therapist and a loooooooong list of coping strategies that I use. I can pretty confidently tell you, I am really good at coping. (In the future I’ll talk more about what this looks like for me). However, what I was noticing was I was having to work tirelessly to maintain my mental health and then work even harder on the days it was really bad.
I was always exercising. Walking the dogs. Going for a solo walk. Going to the gym. Sometimes twice a day. Cooking and baking foods I loved. Sitting in the sunshine. Drinking water. Consuming caffeine. Drawing. Painting. Sleeping. Crying. Reaching out for support more frequently.
I know a lot of these things sound good. Sound “healthy”. But truthfully, there are not really healthy or unhealthy coping mechanisms (of course there are exceptions to this). But really any coping strategy becomes problematic when we begin to use them in excess. When we start to overuse them so much it starts to impact our quality of life/daily functioning. And while I love almost every coping strategy I have, it started to feel like coping took up nearly all of my mental and physical energy.
One day I found myself genuinely working into a panic attack at the thought of “is this how I’m going to feel forever”? And that’s when I knew it was time to add another resource into my coping line-up: medication.
I’ve tried medications in the past. Some that worked just okay and some most definitely didn’t work. This is typical. It usually takes time to find the right medications for you. And after a while of the trial and error I decided to take a break from medications and pursue other forms of coping. This worked for a bit but then after a while things changed and well here we are. Back on the hunt for medication that works the best for me.
I discussed this with my therapist. Contacted my psychiatrist. And we made a treatment plan. I tried a new medication and believe it or not this new one works really really well for me. So well that one year later (and maybe for the rest of my life), it’s in the list of coping resources I use every day. I couldn’t be more thankful!
So what are some of the things I hope you’ll take away from this?
Practice checking in on yourself.
Make a list of coping strategies and practice using them.
Take notice of when you may be over using specific coping strategies.
Dig in to why that might be happening and if it’s time to do something differently.
Remember that mental illness is not something we have to “grin and bear”. It’s something that can be managed and treated. So if you no longer feel like you can manage or treat your mental illness with your current coping strategies, explore new resources. Like medications. Or support groups. Finding a therapist. Finding a NEW therapist. And so many more.
Thanks for coming along with me today! Until next time.
