4 Worrying Habits You Should Never Follow To Cope With Mental Health Problems

There are right and wrong ways of coping with mental health problems. The right ways involve reaching out to others and seeking professional guidance. The wrong ways include a host of bad habits that will do more harm than good. With that in mind, here are four very worrying habits you should never follow to cope with your mental health:

Turning to alcohol or drugs

A woman with long brown hair, wearing a blue top, sits against a gradient grey background and covers her face with both hands, suggesting sadness or distress.

There is a very difficult relationship between mental health and alcohol/substance abuse. It’s a terrible spiral where you turn to alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism for your mental health problems. However, dependencies develop, and this habit ends up making your problems worse. There are loads of articles on Sober Speak that explain the relationship between alcohol/drug abuse and long-term mental health problems, so it’s something worth learning more about.

The main takeaway from this point is simple: don’t start drinking alcohol or using drugs to help alleviate your mental health problems. They are never a cure and will only make things worse.

Developing a negative relationship with sleep

Do you force yourself to stay awake at night because you don’t like going to sleep? Or, conversely, do you try to force yourself to sleep for most of the day? The latter links to the previous bad habit as it normally involves prescription sleep medication or drugs, but both showcase a negative relationship with sleep.

Whether you’re not getting enough or getting too much, bad sleep habits are a worrying sign that shouldn’t go unchecked. They are often one of the first warning signs that you’re not dealing with things as well as you thought.

A pyramid of red balls with sad faces, except for one green ball near the centre that has a happy face. The balls are arranged in a cluster on a white background.

A habit most of us are guilty of, but doomscrolling can cause more than brain rot. If you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through social media all the time, then you should ask yourself why you’re doing this. You might realise it’s a forced habit to help distract you from your mental health worries.

Whenever you feel anxious, you reach for your phone and scroll for hours. It’s a really bad habit that will inevitably make things worse. Notice when you’re doing it and use it as a sign to seek proper help.

Bottling up your emotions

The majority of people with mental health issues will bottle up their emotions as a coping mechanism. You don’t want to address what’s going on inside your head, so you try to ignore it. This will only end badly. You can’t bottle things up forever and will likely see a massive emotional explosion that leads to a breakdown.

Please recognise when you’re holding things in. Don’t be afraid to let your emotions show and speak to other people about things. Sometimes all it takes is a good long cry with your best friends to take back control of your life and feel much better.

Be aware of these bad habits and use them as key signals that you’re not coping well. There’s no shame in asking for help or undergoing therapy; if you’re slipping into any of the habits above, then it’s time to take action for the sake of your mental well-being.

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