Mental Health

Mental Health and Well-Being

Mental health refers to a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It is a vital aspect of overall health. How we think, feel, act, and make decisions all play a role in our mental health. 

Mental health issues can be short-term or long-term and can affect your mood, behaviour, thinking, capacity to relate to others, and even physical health. The effects of trauma, depression, anxiety, and stress on the body, particularly the heart, have been documented in numerous research.

How Can Heart Function Affect Mental Health?

Living with heart failure can be difficult physically and mentally. You may feel a variety of emotions after receiving a diagnosis or as you continue to manage your condition, such as fear, frustration, despair, and worry. These feelings may not affect everyone, may come, and go or remain. 

Some people also find that living with heart failure affects their ability to cope with psychological and emotional stress. 

The mental health concerns for people experiencing heart failure are the same, regardless of the type or severity of their condition.

Managing your Mental Health

It is common to experience more negative thoughts and feelings during periods of stress, anxiety, or depression. These feelings can lead us to over-emphasize how demanding, threatening, or overwhelming daily events and interactions with others are – this habit is known as “negative self-talk.” As this self-talk can become involuntary and constant, it is common to accept it as fact and to see worst-case outcomes as being unavoidable. 

When negative self-talk becomes a regular part of our daily life, it can influence the way we interact with day-to-day events at home or at work. Feelings of worry, anxiety, irritability, and sadness are triggered and maintained by negative self-talk. 

As negative self-talk continues, it may give you an imbalanced or distorted impression of your situation, which can further perpetuate the cycle. You may notice a progressive decrease in your confidence about being able to manage challenging situations, including your medical condition. As a result, feelings of stress, anxiety, or depression may become more and more disruptive in your life.

Challenge Negative Self-Talk

Here are some strategies you can use to successfully change the tone of your self-talk:

1. Identify your negative self-talk patterns
Identify what your most frequent and powerful self-talk statements are (e.g., I can’t do this, I don’t deserve this, I’m not good enough) and consider how they impact your feelings or behaviour.

2. Interrupt or question these statements.
Try to catch and interrupt negative self-talk to prevent it from escalating by shifting your attention to thoughts or memories that are not negative, or intentionally absorb yourself in a task that you want or need to do.

• Try repeating one of the following phrases to yourself: “Let it go,” “Don’t go there,” “Stay focused.
• Shift your activity by going for a breath of fresh are or getting a drink of water. 
• Use questions that lead you to a more balanced view of yourself or your stressful situation.
• Try repeating one of the following phrases to yourself: “Let it go,” “Don’t go there,” “Stay focused.
• Shift your activity by going for a breath of fresh are or getting a drink of water. 
• Use questions that lead you to a more balanced view of yourself or your stressful situation.
• One key cognitive-behavioural technique is to ask yourself: “Even if I’m in a difficult or stressful situation, how can I best respond to it?” 
• As you think about your answer, you’ll find that your effort begins to focus on a constructive goal for your situation, and this in turn helps to improve your emotions and mood.

3. Actively practice positive self-talk.
Focus your attention on the positive ways you are addressing your situation. You can also identify at least one positive characteristic about yourself and your efforts. Remind yourself negative experiences help teach us how to respond to difficult situations. Through this process, you may discover how your effort is deeply meaningful, or even a source of personal growth.

• Consider gratitude. Write down a list of things you are grateful for in your life, or things that you appreciate about yourself, your perseverance, or those around you.
  

Relaxation and Meditation

If stressful situations make you feel anxious, tense, or worried, you may find meditation helpful. Even a few minutes of meditation may help you regain your sense of calm.

Meditation is something that everybody can do. It’s easy to accomplish, free, and doesn’t require any special equipment.

You can meditate anywhere: on a walk, on the bus, in line at the doctor’s office, or even in the middle of a tense work meeting.

These meditation and relaxation videos will help you learn how to meditate, revisit them whenever you need to.

For more information on self-help and practical strategies to manage stress, anxiety, or depression, please visit the ODYSSEE platform available to UHN patients: http://tedrogersheartfunction.ca/patient-tools/vchat-odyssee-covid-19-study/