Month: June 2022

– Hello, I’m Roxane Battle,

and I’m here today with

Dr. Arielle Walzer,

a licensed psychologist in New York.

She loves long walks in Central Park

and spending time with her cat, Maby.

And today we’re here to

help you better understand

your mental health.

Hello, Dr. Walzer, how are you?

– I’m great, how are you?

– I’m doing well, thank you.

Let’s start with the basics.

What does the term mental health mean?

– Mental health is a term for

how we’re feeling emotionally,

how we’re able to cope

with the typical stressors

in our lives and how well we’re

managing our relationships

both with ourselves and with others.

– Is there a connection

between our mental health

and our physical health?

– Definitely, our mental

health and our physical health

are always influencing each other.

And just like everybody

has physical health,

everyone has mental health.

We’re all just at different levels

and we change levels all the time.

We sometimes go through stages

where we feel really

great about ourselves,

and it feels like we can

take on any challenge

that comes our way.

And then at other times

we might feel really down,

or anxious, or feel like we’re struggling

just to get through our days.

– It’s not normal to have

mental health concerns, is it?

– It’s actually really normal

to have mental health concerns.

Ideally, we would all

have perfect mental health

at all times, but the

reality is that most people

go through certain periods in their lives

where that’s not the case.

– So I’m curious, Dr. Walzer,

just like how many people

actually need help with

their mental health?

– Glad you asked that question, Roxane.

At any given time about one in five people

in the United States is struggling

with a diagnosable mental health disorder.

And there are many more people

who don’t necessarily have a disorder,

but they can still use some

help with their mental health.

– You use the word “disorder,”

do you need to be diagnosed

with a disorder in order to

get help with mental health?

– No, you don’t.

People actually come to treatment

for all kinds of reasons,

so some of us know

that we have a diagnosable

mental health disorder

something like major depression,

or general anxiety disorder

which are two of the most

common mental health disorders.

But other people just aren’t,

we’re not feeling like ourselves,

sometimes it’s something big

has happened in our lives

and we’re just not feeling right.

– So, it’s on the spectrum or range?

– Exactly, people come to

mental health treatment

with all kinds of needs

and goals for themselves.

Sometimes they wanna learn

to cope better with stress,

sometimes they wanna

improve their relationships,

or sometimes they just want to adjust

to some sort of new challenge

that they’re facing.

– It’s so good to know

that we’re not alone

if we need help with our mental health,

and we don’t have to

rate for major crisis,

or breakdown in order to seek help.

– That’s right.

– Thank you, Dr. Walzer.

In our next video, we’ll dispel

fears about asking for help,

and talk about how reaching

out is actually a good thing.

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– Hello again, I’m Roxane Battle.

And I’m here again with

Dr. Arielle Walzer,

a licensed psychologist in New York.

Today, we’re talking

about the fear we have

about reaching out for help

with our mental health.

Hello again Dr. Walzer.

– Hi Roxane.

How are you?

– I’m great.

It’s good to see you again.

What are some common

myths about getting help?

Some common fears that keep

people from seeking treatment.

– There are definitely a lot

of fears that people have.

In some communities, there’s a lot of fear

and shame around seeking

help with mental health.

Some people are afraid

that it means they’re betraying

their cultural beliefs

or sharing family secrets.

Mental health can sometimes be something

that’s never talked about openly.

And in other parts of the countries

we’re actually seeing a trend

toward people becoming more open

about working with their mental health.

More and more we’re

seeing people celebrate it

and suggest it to others.

There are some celebrities

who have actually

become mental health advocates

and made the news sharing their stories

and encouraging others.

– Hmm, yes. I’ve seen

that, several celebrities

Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka come to mind.

Aly Raisman, Demi Lovato,

Michael Phelps, Brandon Marshall.

I mean, they’re all in their unique way

raising awareness and normalizing talking

about their mental health.

And I think what’s really

impactful is that people

with so much public attention

are still willing to talk

about how they’re feeling

without being afraid of being judged.

Fear of judgment is something

that can keep people

from getting help. Right?

– Right. And even when people accept

that others need help and

they don’t judge them for it

it’s actually really common for people

to have self-judgment about seeking help.

They often feel like therapy

is something that’s great

for other people, but they’re not used to

thinking about it as a

possibility for themselves.

So even when they recognize

that they’re experiencing

a lot of stress or anxiety or sadness

they’re just not sure

if therapy is for them.

A frequent fear that people have is

that seeking mental health

treatment means something

like I’m crazy or I’m broken or weak.

We hear these fears

even from some of the most put together,

strongest, smartest people.

And they’re just not true.

Getting mental health help is a positive,

active step that you

can take for yourself.

It’s not a negative

and it doesn’t mean that you’re crazy.

– Right. Right.

I’m so glad to hear you say that.

I know you’re not a fan of the word crazy

and neither am I.

So let me ask as a mental

health professional

Dr. Walzer, what do you think

of people who seek help

for their mental health?

– Personally I really respect

those people who ask for help.

It takes a lot of

self-awareness to recognize,

“Hey there’s something

that I can do better at,”

or, “there might be a way

to feel better and happier

and more relaxed in my life.”

Taking that first step of asking for help

like reaching out to a therapist

or finding a mental health

program takes a lot of strength

and it shows that you’re

a proactive person.

I actually sometimes

think of going to therapy

as similar to seeing a personal trainer.

So you think about the

reasons that someone

might hire a personal trainer it’s usually

because they have physical fitness goals

for themselves or they,

and they, they think

that the personal trainer can

help them learn new skills

stay motivated and achieve those goals.

Seeing a personal trainer

doesn’t mean you’re weak,

it doesn’t mean you’re unhealthy,

you’re out of shape.

Some of the fittest people

go to personal trainers.

What it means is that you really value

your physical health

and you wanna improve.

That same thing applies

to seeing a therapist

or getting any kind of mental health help.

It shows that you’re

someone who’s ready to take

on a challenge and commit

yourself to improvement.

It means you really value yourself

and value your mental health.

– Yeah. That’s really

great to hear Dr. Walzer.

Thank you for explaining

all of that so clearly

– Pleasure. Thank you.

– Next time, we’ll talk

about types of help

and what you can do to start

feeling better on your own.

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– Hello again, I’m Roxane Battle,

and I’m here with psychologist,

Dr. Arielle Walzer.

Today, we’re talking about

types of mental health

and things you can do to start

feeling better on your own.

Hello again, Dr. Walzer.

– Hi, how are you doing?

– I’m great, thanks.

Good to be here with you again.

So let’s talk about what mental

health treatment looks like.

What does it look like?

Well, a lot of people

fear mental health treatment

because they have images for movies

or pop culture where they’ll

be made to lay on a couch

and talk about their

dreams, or they’re forced

to take medications that

make them feel like zombies.

These ideas tend to be pretty

outdated and unrealistic.

Mental health treatment

actually looks different

for different people.

– So one size does not fit all?

– Exactly, because we

all have different needs.

One of the most common ways

that people get treatment is

by speaking to a therapist.

You can talk to your therapist

about what’s going on for you,

and the therapist will help guide you

through learning new skills that apply

to your situation and

can help you feel better.

Therapy can be challenging at times,

but it shouldn’t be scary.

The right therapist for you is someone

who you feel comfortable with

and who treats you with respect,

like a partner in your own treatment.

One of the types of

therapy that has been shown

to work well for most people is called

cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT.

– Cognitive behavioral therapy.

That sounds complicated.

– Yeah, it does, but it’s actually not.

In cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT,

we learn about how our

emotions are connected

to our thoughts and behaviors.

That word, cognitive, just

means related to our thoughts.

If we could, we’d probably all choose

to make ourselves feel happy all the time,

but it’s just not that simple.

Our feelings don’t come out of nowhere.

In CBT, we start to see how our thoughts

and behaviors are influencing each other,

and they’re influencing how we feel.

We can then learn skills for changing

our unique patterns of

thinking and acting.

So the ones that are

keeping us feeling down

and stressed out or anxious.

– So you’re saying by

changing our thoughts,

we can change the way we act and feel.

– Yes, it’s not a good strategy

to just tell yourself, stop feeling bad.

If that worked, we’d all do it,

but working on our thoughts

can actually be effective,

and a CBT therapist or program

can you how to do that.

CBT is a treatment that works for a lot

of different mental health concerns,

including some of the most

common ones, depression, anxiety.

Over years of study, has

been shown to be effective

for many different people,

helping them feel a lot better.

– That’s really good to hear.

You mentioned working with a therapist

or a program, but are

there things I can do

on my own to help myself feel better?

– Yeah, people often get

help from a therapist,

but not everybody needs

or wants a therapist.

Sometimes, people wanna work on their own,

work at their own pace.

For those people, there are options

for other types of treatment.

Recently, online or

smartphone-app-based treatment

has become really popular.

There are some apps out

there that are designed

to help guide people

through learning skills

to improve their mental health.

They can be accessed anywhere, anytime.

Some of these apps also

allow people to speak

with or message coaches who

can help keep them on track.

There are a lot of apps out there.

So if you choose to go that

route, just wanna say check

to see that the creator

of the app is trustworthy.

Some apps are free and others involve

licensed mental health professionals.

Those ones usually aren’t,

but the cost might be covered

by your health insurance, the same way

that in-person treatment is covered.

– Oh, that’s good to know.

– Yeah, and another thing

you can also always do

on your own is just to make sure

that you’re taking time to

do the things that you enjoy

and spend time with people you care about.

When we’re struggling

with our mental health,

we often have a natural

instinct to start doing less

and less and to avoid other people,

but that can make things harder.

Pushing ourselves to

keep up with the things

that bring us little

joy, even when it’s tough

to get the motivation to do

it, can be really helpful.

For me, cuddling with my cat, Maby,

and playing with her is a stress reliever.

I also always make sure

to get outside for a walk each day.

That’s essential to maintaining

my own mental health.

So I push myself to do it,

even when I really don’t feel like it.

– Thank you for sharing

your personal experience

and sort of practicing

what you’re teaching here.

That’s really great tips,

and I look forward to talking

with you next time about what to expect

in therapy and how we can help others

who might be needing help

with their mental health.

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– Hello again, I’m Roxane

Battle, and I’m here, once again,

with Psychologist, Dr. Arielle Walzer.

Today, we’re talking

about what you can expect

in seeking treatment for

anxiety and depression

and will offer ways you can help someone

who might be feeling a bit down

or need help with their mental health.

Hello again, Dr. Walzer.

– Hi, nice to see you

again. How you doing?

– I’m good, good to see you.

As we were wrapping up this series,

I think that one question I wanna ask is,

for people dealing with

anxiety and depression,

will we always feel this way?

Does therapy actually work?

– Yeah, that’s a good,

important question to ask.

When you’re feeling depressed or anxious

or stressed, every day

can feel like forever.

It can seem like you’ll never feel better,

but that’s not usually the case.

Most people find that therapy

helps them feel better

about themselves and about their ability

to manage stressful or

difficult things in their lives.

About 75% of people who try therapy feel

that they benefited from it.

– 75%? That’s huge!

So what you’re saying is that most people

who try therapy end up feeling better.

– Yeah, and if you’ve

tried therapy before,

and you haven’t found it helpful,

that doesn’t necessarily mean

that it can’t work for you.

It’s important that you get the right kind

of treatment for you

and your specific needs.

So it just might mean that you

should try a different type

of treatment or a different therapist.

– Okay and so is there a timeline

for how long it should take

before I start feeling better?

– Yeah, the good news is

that people often start feeling better

really early on in treatment.

In just the first few sessions,

most people in therapy start

to see a significant change

in how they’re feeling.

To make sure that people continue

to have better mental

health long after treatment,

treatment usually lasts a bit longer after

you first start to notice that difference.

Depending on your own particular needs,

you might be able to get

great long-lasting results

in somewhere between a

few weeks to a few months.

For most people, treatment

should not be something that’s forever.

– Well, that’s good to hear.

– Yeah.

However, I should note that working

on your mental health outside

of a formal treatment program

is a lifelong process.

We have to continue to have healthy habits

and use skills that we learn in treatment

if we wanna maintain good mental health.

– So focus on the journey

and not the destination,

one step at a time

– Right, finishing treatment

doesn’t mean it’s over,

and you’ll never need to think

about your mental health again.

It’s something you’ll always

wanna work on, like exercise.

– So just like exercise and working out,

we often work out together, you know,

have a running buddy, how

can we support each other?

Given that we’re all in this together

with respect to our mental health journey.

– Yeah, yeah, we are all in this together,

and how we support each other depends

on our relationship with

whoever that person is.

If you’re close to someone, and you notice

that they might be having

trouble with their mental health,

you can ask how they’ve been

feeling emotionally, lately,

and you can start an open conversation

about whether seeking treatment

might be the right move for them,

but for most people that we know,

that conversation might not

be what they need from us.

– Yeah, that’s a good point.

Especially, at work when we

might not know people as well.

So what advice do you have

to be supportive in those situations?

– Yeah, it’s a common situation.

There are two things that we can always do

to help those around us who are struggling

with their mental health,

such as coworkers.

One, we can be open

about our own struggles.

So everyone has a

different level of comfort

with this and comfort with sharing,

but you can share times that you’ve needed

and received mental health treatment.

That makes other people feel less alone.

It makes them feel safer to ask for help,

and if you’re a manager,

you can let your team know

about resources that your company offers,

like employee assistance programs

or mental health benefits

through your health insurance

and then two, we can just

always treat others kindly

and gently, recognizing that, you know,

when they’re acting in

a way that frustrates us

or that we don’t understand,

there might be something going

on with them behind the scenes.

Being understanding and compassionate

to others is just never the wrong move.

– Oh man, I’m so glad

to hear you say that.

You’re right.

We can never go wrong being kind

because we really are in this together.

Thank you, Dr. Walzer for your expertise.

You share some really

great mental health tips

with all of us.

– Thank you so much for

having me. Glad I can help.

– Yes, thank you.

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