I think the majority of people deal with some type of mental health issue. I still hate that I do, but I have found I am simply not as good a person as I want to be. Most of my problems came or at least intensified with having children. I’ve struggled mostly with depression and anger.

It’s hard for me to get the right help when I am going through a hard time. Part of it is I don’t want to admit that I do have a problem, and also I’m not usually thinking straight. But over the years I’ve dealt with a less than perfect brain, I’ve tried a lot of different options. Here’s what I’ve thought of them.

Medication: Helped a little, but I felt it wasn’t resolving what was really bothering me. I didn’t use it very long.

Self-help: I simply did not have the tools to helps myself, hence why I was having problems in the first place.

Support: It was definitely easier when I was connecting with people around me on a regular basis. And if my husband weren’t wonderful, I would have been so much worse off.

Therapy: Therapy is great, it is wonderful to be able to talk to someone who is also trained to help. But I didn’t love it. I never felt very comfortable completely opening up, and I’m not big on talking to someone I don’t really know.

Staying busy: When I am engaged in meaningful activities that I like to do, I’m far less likely to fall into bad habits. Tends to be more preventative than curative.

Books/reading: I like reading and some of what I read helped, but many books I looked at failed to get at the heart of what I was experiencing or offer suggestions that worked.

Religion: Relying on Christ is the only way I made it through everything. I loved the addiction recovery program offered by my church, and I think many mental health issues function as addictions.

Hypnosis: This has been my latest find, and one that I enjoy a lot. Hypnosis always sounds a little hokey, but it doesn’t have to be. I use the downloads offered here, and it has been the first option that I felt was not only addressing my issues, but giving me the proper tools to get over them.

Ultimately overcoming poor mental health is learning how to retrain my brain. And I’ve discovered that it is very possible, and I am not stuck always being a depressed or angry person, but I can change and be better. Just sometimes it takes more than just my will power to get over things.