Mental health shouldn’t be complicated. We just need more awareness.
Here is a simple guide to doing self check-ins for your mental health.
In terms of health checks, Google can be a friend and foe at the same time. One symptom can lead you down the rabbit hole of scrolling, even when doing well-meaning due-diligence research.
While “check-ins” have become a catchphrase for mental health, how do you know when it’s time to start checking in on yourself?
The tell-tale signs: An experience of your “non-normal”
An easy question that’s difficult to answer when it comes to mental health is, “Is this normal? ” Many people ask this in reference to their behavior, their symptoms, their thoughts, and even their feelings.
It’s an important question to ask because, according to Dr. Cara Fernandez, chairperson of the Ateneo de Manila University Psychology department and psychotherapist at the Ateneo Bulatao Center, a quick sign that you need a check-in is an experience of “non-normal” in your day-to-day life.
“If your emotional response to an event, a challenge, or a problem is a lot more significant, deeper, and heavier, and if it lasts longer than you would expect it of other people—that’s the time to really do a check-in,” she says.
Anything that’s significantly different from a person’s typical functioning and day-to-day merits its own self-check-in. The American Psychiatric Association offers some factors as starting points.
First and most common are issues with concentration on a task and troubles with tuning into the self. Barring issues of fatigue, recent life events, or other situational developments, these two aspects can be your body’s way of showing a disconnect between how you are and how you function.
Need a quick check-in on your mental health? Psychotherapy sessions may provide the space you need to process immediate concerns and map out your next action points.Establishing your baseline
Dips and fluctuations in mood, energy, sleep, and anxiety are all signs worth checking in on. When something is different, take it as an opportunity to ask yourself if anything is actually up.
Thus, it’s important to establish your baseline. Your baseline is like your default mode as a person. This includes your tendencies: Are you generally more introverted or extroverted? Do you have high energy on a regular day, or are you generally a laid-back and lethargic person? Is your schedule always packed and fulfilled, or do you regularly need breaks?
Imagine breaking away from your usual—like the energetic friend who suddenly becomes very quiet, or an always-on-the-go productive person struggling to accomplish typically easy-for-them tasks. While everyone can benefit from a well-deserved break, a significant—and sometimes jarring—break from your usual “you” is a chance to be curious and ask, “What’s up?”
Fernandez emphasizes the developmental context because essentially this can also help establish the baseline of functioning. Developmental context gives people clues when their behaviors are commonly expected of their life stage—like tantrums for toddlers or impulsivity for teenagers. If a person experiences significant changes, emotions, or behaviors relatively different from their current stage of life, then this can be a nudge towards a mental health check-in.
A third telltale sign is when daily functioning becomes interrupted. “If you experience events that debilitate your daily functioning across the developmental tasks that you’re expected to have and do, then that’s something to look into,” says Fernandez.
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Doctor’s note: When symptoms should make you seek help
In other cases, symptoms can become your first signs to seek help. From a medical perspective, Dr. Tiffany Dela Cruz, a psychiatrist at Soma Clinica, lays out two situations when one can and should seek professional mental health help.
“Let’s start with your absolutes: if there is a history of violence, either you are hurting or you are hurting yourself, then this is a non-negotiable, as it is not normal to be hurt,” she says. “But in my practice, I encourage people to not wait for an absolute.”
Absolutes are those situations where safety may be compromised. Harm to self or harm to others should be treated as a safety risk that requires immediate help.
On the other hand, Dela Cruz also cites ideal scenarios, like checking in on one’s mental health as part of overall health checkups. This is likened to annual physical exams (APEs), which are more preventive than reactive care. People go for their APEs to assess their overall health, not necessarily with the expectation of finding something wrong.
The same goes for mental health; when a person has the resources and access to mental health facilities and assistance, it is highly advised to seek out help when possible.
Symptoms—be they physical or emotional—are one of the body’s ways of saying, “Look out for me, something’s up.” It may be time to listen.
“There’s still a stigma to seeking out help, but I appreciate it when people come in to explore their symptoms and not wait until they’re worse off,” Dela Cruz says.
Lobbying for affordable mental health care
However, even this is not always an accessible action point for many Filipinos. Today, mental health is still a privilege for many people. Financial resources are a significant hurdle, as a majority of mental health services are not covered by healthcare providers. Depending on location and availability or resources, mental health services such as checkups in physical clinics or even online consultations may not always be accessible to everyone.
Still, there is some hope. After the R.A. 11036 Mental Health Act (which aims to improve support for mental health services) was established in 2018, and there’s a movement for change—something that mental health professionals and medical allied partners are looking forward to.
But it falls to the conscious decision of each person to be more aware of their own conditions and care for themselves. At least, in the meantime.
