As part of Mental Health Day, it seems important to highlight one of the risk factors that causes many personal and family problems: CHANGES! While change can be, for some, an opportunity to transition into fulfillment, however change very often generates stress and anxiety that can harm physical and mental health.
We are currently in a time of change as we are coming out of a pandemic period and entering a new season: fall!
These two changes have brought and still bring the need to ADAPT:
For the change of season:
- Less light and sun
- Shorter days
- Colder temperatures
- Fatigue and low energy
- Sleep disturbances
- Down mood
For the pandemic :
- New health rules
- Feeling of loss or modification of freedoms
- New social relations and ways of life
- Lifestyle habits: diet, alcohol, outdoor activities
- Feeling of facing an endless situation
- Difficult relationships with children, difficult schooling and parents’ feeling of helplessness
- Resuming social contacts, returning to face-to-face work
We are constantly challenged by changes, in addition to the two mentioned above, here are some changes that can influence or affect our mental health:
- Lack of sleep or poor sleep.
- Conflicts at home or at work.
- An accident.
- A wound.
- A sickness.
- A death.
- A job loss.
- Moving.
- A separation.
- A divorce.
- A marriage.
- A birth.
- A promotion.
- A loss of income.
- The purchase of a property.
- Modification of family ties (eg blended family).
- A feeling of monotony or pervasive boredom (at work, home, school, family life, romantic and sexual relationships).
- Feeling of not getting there, of never having finished… of being stuck in a way of life that does not correspond to my deepest aspirations.
- Work overload.
- Extra time.
- Lack of professional recognition.
Each person reacts differently to change and adopts their own coping strategies.
Sometimes this is done smoothly, but very often the means used to adapt turn out to be ineffective or absent:
- Ineffective: managing the symptom rather than the root of the problem, escape or diversion strategies
- Absent: denial of the problem or situation, no means to adapt
Either way, it is important to question how we react to change, to address the question to ourselves, first, in order to understand if this involves issues in our personal or family life. .
If you recognize yourself in one or more of these situations and you don’t seem to be able to get over it, your coping methods are not working and you believe that it is negatively affecting your quality of life, it is possible to make an appointment (face-to-face or virtual) at ABC in order to support you and deal with these personal or family issues. We use various approaches according to your personality, your needs and your expectations in order to face changes fully and effectively.
If you would like to learn more about our services and our approaches, we offer you a free 15 to 30 minutes exploratory meeting that will allow us to get to know each other.