How Self-Love Improves Mental Health
Over the past couple of years, there has been a sharp rise in people battling mental health issues. The world we live in demands so much of us that some are struggling to cope mentally.
Mental health refers to the emotional and psychological well-being of a person, which can affect how they feel, think, or behave. There are many ways to improve mental health, and in this article, we will focus on self-care as one of those ways.
Accepting who we are is agreeing with God when He says we are wonderfully and fearfully made, it is living a life that reflects that truth. (Psalm 139:14). Self-care is an effective technique in improving mental health as we recognize our worth as beings created in His image and worthy of care and compassion.
When there is a conscious effort put into taking care of ourselves, honoring our needs, and putting value on ourselves, it is often mistaken for selfishness. Are there people who are selfish and full of pride? Yes, unfortunately. What’s different is that when we talk of self-care, we are advocating for people to care for the bodies and minds that God gave us; we are, after all, the Temple of the Highest God and The Holy Spirit dwells in us (I Corinthians 6:19-20).
This means we ought to take good care of what God has entrusted us with, the vessel He chose to use on this earth. When we can take care of ourselves, we fuel ourselves to care for others. As much as our lives should be marked by our ability to be there for others and sometimes even sacrifice our comfort and wants, we should always check if we are not overextending ourselves beyond our abilities.
There is nothing wrong with sacrificial love or giving of ourselves. It becomes a problem when it consumes our whole life. This will lead to exhaustion, fatigue, depression, and sometimes resentment toward those we are helping or giving to.
We see Jesus showing us this way of living by how He would, on occasion, separate Himself from the crowd, go away, regroup, and pray. He was in essence realizing His need for rest, solitude, and spiritual alignment and modeling the same for us.
There are five areas in which we can practice self-care and thereby improve our mental health and our ability to serve God and others. These are physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and mental self-care.
- Physical – When we take care of our body, we engage in activities that keep us fit. This means that we are conscious of what we put into our body, how we exercise, and our recovery routine (i.e. sleep and rest).
- Mental – As people, we need activities that ensure that we are always learning and stimulated mentally. This can include reading, learning new skills, puzzles, games, memorizing scripture, etc.
- Emotional – Being aware of our emotions and those of others helps us to function and relate in a more godly way. We pay attention to how we feel, and act accordingly. If we are happy, we permit ourselves to be joyful, when we are sad, we give ourselves room to recover. This can be achieved by seeking God through prayer, Bible reading, journaling, sharing time with friends, seeing a therapist, etc.
- Spiritual – Our Spiritual life is nurtured through our communion with God and the body of Christ. This can be achieved through church attendance and involvement, meditation on His Word, and prayer.
- Social – Our social life consists of the relationships we have around us. Who our friends, mentors, church, colleagues, and family are. We care for ourselves socially when we try to maintain and nurture these relationships so that we are not isolated or lonely.
Self-care is not easy. We want to help others and it can feel selfish to take time for ourselves. We need reminders that our mental health is an important part of being able to serve God and others. Below are some ways in which self-care can help improve our mental health and give us strength for kingdom usefulness.
- Self-care helps you love others in a better way. Noticing our own weaknesses and need for help gives us a stronger compassion for others. In addition, self-care by way of rest and seeking God gives us the strength we need to serve others well.
- We cannot give what we do not have for ourselves. When we care for ourselves, we have more to give. We serve others better when we are serving from a place of abundance.
- Self-care improves our confidence. We are more confident to be who God has called us to be. Our confidence also comes from knowing that God is with us through each step we take. We are grounded in His truth.
Tips for Biblical Self-care
Stand on His Word – It is important to remind ourselves through God’s word who we are. There are so many things that can shake us in the world, but His Word remains true. Meditating on verses that affirm who we are in Christ will give us strength for the tasks He has called us to. Preaching the Gospel to ourselves daily reminds us that we have a creator who loved us so much that He gave Himself up for our salvation.
Prayer – God has instructed us to seek His face in prayer for help with every trial. Whether it be the trials of living in a sinful world or the trials we bring to our lives through our own sin, we can find hope, peace, mercy, and joy by seeking God in prayer.
Journaling – This is the process of writing down your thoughts and feelings, so you become aware of your emotions and keep track of your thought patterns. The world we live in can be loud and messy and the outside noise can make us forget the Gospel.
One great journaling practice is to write out verses or whole passages of scripture. The act of writing down the words of scripture helps us to bring our thoughts in alignment with truth and meditate on His promises (Philippians 4:8)
Rest – From the beginning, God has given us a model of resting from our work or getting away to pray and rest (Genesis 2:2, Mark 1:35). Rest may include sleep, prayer, solitude, reading a good book or even taking a long bath. Our bodies were not created to work non-stop, and rest is given to us as a way to strengthen us for work and service.
Additional Help
This process might be difficult to do alone so if you or someone you know struggles with taking time for self-care and might need the help of a therapist, please do not hesitate to call our offices for an appointment. We have competent and God-fearing Therapists who are waiting to help you in the process.
“Heart Shaped Red Balloon”, Courtesy of Unsplash Licence, Unsplash.com, CC0 License
Like with many mental health issues, researchers and therapists are not sure what causes Borderline Personality Disorder. However, research indicates that there may be some connection between a person’s biology and their personal history or present situation.
The sad truth is that Borderline Personality Disorder carries with it a stigma. In fact, some consider it to be more stigmatized than any other mental health issue. People often view those with Borderline Personality Disorder as being manipulative, attention-grabbing, or resistant to treatment.
Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT) is probably the most well-known and commonly used method to treat Borderline Personality Disorder. It teaches the person to become more mindful as they learn emotional regulation, distress tolerance, radical openness, and interpersonal effectiveness. Group therapy can be especially helpful since the patient will be able to learn and practice all of these techniques in a group setting.
“Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) provides clients with new skills to manage painful emotions and decrease conflict in relationships. DBT specifically focuses on providing therapeutic skills in four key areas. First, mindfulness focuses on improving an individual’s ability to accept and be present in the current moment. Second, distress tolerance is geared toward increasing a person’s tolerance of negative emotion, rather than trying to escape from it. Third, emotion regulation covers strategies to manage and change intense emotions that are causing problems in a person’s life. Fourth, interpersonal effectiveness consists of techniques that allow a person to communicate with others in a way that is assertive, maintains self-respect, and strengthens relationships.”