May is Mental Health Awareness Month: Here’s How You Can Support Your Loved Ones

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The Connection Between Mental Health and Other Disorders

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Not everyone realizes how powerful the connection can be between mental health conditions like anxiety and depression and other disorders. For example, addiction and mental health are frequently intertwined, and the same is true for eating disorders and others. 

When an individual suffers from a substance abuse disorder along with anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, etc., this is called having a co-occurring disorder, or dual diagnosis. In the past, it was considered typical to treat these conditions separately. However, research has shown that because they are so strongly linked, treating them simultaneously produces the best outcomes. 

Loved ones who strive to understand how these various conditions are connected are already several steps ahead in providing support and encouraging proper treatment. 

Reducing Stigma During Mental Health Awareness Month

There’s no denying that there is a stigma surrounding addiction and mental health conditions. During the month of May, there is so much you can do as an individual to both show support to someone you love and get the word out to help others do the same, thereby addressing that stigma head-on. 

For example, you can make a difference by: 

• Volunteering at a community program in your area through NAMI
• Posting about Mental Health Awareness Month on social media
• Talk with businesses in your area about “lighting up green” to show their support and raise awareness
• Share your own story to help someone else who is struggling

It’s easy to forget how powerful one voice can be when it comes to something like advocating for mental health awareness. And when voices come together, they become even louder. 

Removing Barriers to Treatment

It can be so challenging to encourage our loved ones to seek treatment for mental health issues. Unfortunately, many people fall into poor habits, including enabling behaviors. It should come as no surprise to learn that these types of behaviors quickly become barriers to treatment. 

Sometimes, it’s easy to confuse “helping” with enabling. According to the Cleveland ClinicYou can tell if you are enabling if your behavior causes someone to fail to improve themselves. Oftentimes, enabling can also become unhealthy for you. You can tell the difference between helping and enabling by determining if you’re acting because: 

• You want to avoid upsetting the other person.
• You’re making excuses to avoid facing the truth. 
• You’re acting in a way that’s causing you to suffer. 

A really good way to tell if you are participating in enabling behavior vs. helping is for someone to tell you that you are enabling your loved one. It can quickly become a cycle that makes it nearly impossible for people to understand their need for professional help. 

Contact Focus Treatment Centers Today

At Focus Treatment Centers, we not only provide treatment for our clients’ substance abuse, eating disorder, and mental health issues, but we also have resources to help families. 

If you or someone you love is struggling, there’s never been a better time to reach out for help than right now. We offer tailored treatment plans to meet each of our clients’ unique recovery goals. 

To learn more, contact Focus Treatment Centers today by calling 423-308-2560.