Family Wellness Tip
Psychological Transitions
Psychological transitions are focused around mental health and behavior. It is moving from your typical to something different when a life change occurs. This could be depression after childbirth. It could be grief after a death. It could be anxiety after a traumatic event. It could be the move from mania to depression for people living with Bipolar Disorder. Your mental health status changes. When mental health changes, your behavior changes. This can be a quick and big change OR it can be a slow change that you don't even know is happening. Let's talk about how we can manage these transitions a little better.
Sometimes things, like depression, can come on slowly. We may not even notice, at first. We might get angry quicker. We might cry easier. We might not want to be around others. It is usually easier to notice when our behavior changes than our mind. Sometimes, someone else might have to be brave enough to tell us something is wrong.
Sometimes with things like anxiety, it happens quicker. We don't know why or where it came from. We just know it is there. It may get in the way of your normal life a little or a lot. We may not be sure how to fix it.
Sometimes with mania (extreme, unfocused, unexplained happiness), it happens suddenly and it feels good. It happens quickly. It affects how you behave. It affects how you get along, or don't get along, with others. Help usually comes from brave talks from family or friends OR serious mental health support.
Psychological transitions sometimes need outside help to notice they are happening. Psychological transitions sometimes need outside help to get better. So, what's going to help? You know it's coming...being mindful. Being mindful helps you see how you're feeling. Being mindful helps you look deeper into the changes in your behaviors. Being mindful helps you take the feedback from family and friends. Being mindful helps you see what you are doing now that is working well. Being mindful helps you see when you need outside help. All of those are hard things to do. They are harder when you aren't aware or get defensive or get stubborn. Mindfulness helps break down some of those walls.
Remember mindfulness doesn't have to take forever. Mindfulness can be a 3 deep breaths and a question about how you are feeling right now. Mindfulness can be a walk outside without music or podcast or texting or phone call. Mindfulness can be 2 minutes of deep breathing while lying down or sitting.
Mindfulness isn't the cure but it helps. It will help make the transition smoother and a little less painful. The work getting back to your "normal" will be hard. Hard doesn't mean impossible. Hard does mean doing things different. Hard does mean changing how you think and do. Hard does mean pride when overcome.
You may have to do this 1 or more times in your life. You may have to be the support for someone else, 1 or more times in your life. You CAN do this.
