Top docs are people too: mental health is health
Just like patients, physicians are people too, and have the need to recognize and treat their own mental health.
Transcript
How do we take care of our own mental health? [MUSIC PLAYING]
When I say I take care of my mental health, I give myself permission to feel my emotions and express those.
And so that might include crying. And that might include being upset. But it's also important that when you feel those emotions,
you do something about it. And it might be a need to take the afternoon off, or I need to cancel a few meetings today
because it's too much. So it doesn't need to be any grand design. It's little things for each day, but you're
listening to yourself. And share that gift with someone else to say, when you feel like this, let's stop the medication talk,
let's talk about why you're not feeling OK, and give them enough safe space to express those emotions with you.
I think for me, staying organized is really, really big, because I tend to be a really, really busy person,
and I don't make a lot of time to be able to rest and relax sometimes. And so being able to make sure that
I have some sort of a routine that I can stick to, but even when that routine doesn't really fall into the place--
like, unpredictable things happen all the time and just learning to be flexible as well. So I think that finding that balance between having
a predictable life, but also being able to deal with things that are unpredictable in our lives, is really important.
And I think that another thing for me is I've been working a lot more on mindfulness. When we stay present, we're able to kind of process,
OK, what's going on in front of me, and what decisions do I need to make right now in order to act in my best interest?
So I think those are two of my main things to kind of help me just take care of my mental health.
And Dr. Miller, what would you say? I will say one of the major things is learn yourself.
Do research on who you are as a person, because that's going to allow you to understand what things
make you happy, what things make you sad, and you can make adjustments accordingly. For me, I write down everything in my journal--
the foods that I eat, how does that make me feel, if I worked out today, if I didn't work out today.
I keep track of all of these particular things because you are what you consume as well. And I don't mean just consuming food or water, but also
who you talk to, the messages that they pour into you, the things that you watch on TV, the music that you listen to, all of these particular things, because some of those things
you may be able to cut down on. And then also, it can help you out in the long run. I agree with all of you and what you're saying
and Dr. Miller, in particular, your last statements, understanding how I respond to things so that when it happens,
I can say, oh, hey, Jen, I think you're a little anxious right now or, hey, Jen, I think this actually made you sad.
That's been, like, honestly a life-saver for me in sort of being self-aware. I definitely feel like, as you all
have mentioned, finding the things that works for us is very, very important.
mental health behavior
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