Do we need support?

Mental health is the foundation of a fulfilling life. Whether or not we take care of our mental health affects many aspects of our daily lives.

It is important to mention that each of us experiences the same situations differently. The reason for this is that we are different people with different pasts, traumas, happy and sad moments. Each problem is felt and experienced individually, and it has a different impact on the lives of different people.

It is common for people to say to themselves, “How can I feel sad about this when others are going through much more difficult situations?” From the outside, it may seem that way, but it is extremely important to know ourselves and to feel how different life events affect us. Our main goal is to lead a fulfilling life in which we experience pleasure.

To achieve this, we must take care of ourselves and not blame ourselves when we experience sadness, anger, or other strong emotions. However, it is important to be able to regulate them so that we do not make decisions based solely on them. It is normal to be guided by our emotions sometimes, but if we do not understand and manage them, there is a risk of making ill-considered decisions.

There is a relatively simple answer to this question—when our normal daily routine changes and we stop functioning properly. However, this is not always easy to recognize because the word “normal” itself is subjective. What does it mean for us to be functional?

Here are a few questions that may help us:

• Do my feelings and experiences prevent me from satisfying my basic physiological needs—eating, sleeping, maintaining hygiene?
• Do these experiences make it difficult for me to carry out my daily tasks (going to work, picking up the children from kindergarten, walking the dog)?
• Am I isolating myself from my social circle?
• Are there people close to me who seem concerned about my condition?
• Am I starting to get distracted easily and lose concentration?

Once we have answered these questions and gained more awareness of our emotional state, the first step is to prioritize the problems that concern us—which of them is the most pressing?

If you find it difficult to organize your thoughts and figure out where to go from here, that’s perfectly normal. To cope, we often need a little psychoeducation—to understand how our thoughts work and how they affect our behavior. This is where psychotherapy can be extremely helpful.

The psychotherapist also plays the role of a teacher—they guide and educate the client about the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behavior. They are there to support, listen, and help the person realize what internal resources they have at their disposal. The therapist does not provide ready-made solutions because the answers lie within the clients themselves—they just need support to discover them.