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Recovering Your Mental Health
A Self-Help Guide
What To Do If Your Symptoms Are Very Serious
If your symptoms are so severe that you feel hopeless and worthless all the
time, or your feelings and experiences feel overwhelming, or if any of
the following apply to you, take steps right away to help yourself.
- You feel like life is not worth living anymore.
- You think a lot about dying, have thoughts of suicide, or have planned how to kill yourself.
- You are taking lots of risks that are endangering your life and/or the lives of others.
- You feel like hurting yourself, hurting others, destroying property
or committing a crime.
Things you need to do
RIGHT AWAY:
- Arrange an appointment with your doctor, or other health care provider, or with a mental health agency. If your symptoms make you a danger to yourself
or someone else, insist on immediate care and treatment. A family member
or friend may need to do this for you if your symptoms are too severe.
If you are taking medicines and you think it would be helpful, ask for
a medication check.
- Ask friends or family members to take turns staying with you until you feel better. Then talk, play cards, watch a funny video together, listen
to music— do things that keep you from feeling any worse and may
give you some relief.
- Do some simple things that you usually enjoy like “getting lost” in a good book, viewing a beautiful picture, playing with your pet or
writing in your journal.
You will find more things you might choose to do to help yourself feel better
in the section of this booklet entitled: “Additional Things You Can Do Right Away to Help Yourself Feel Better.” As you learn what helps
you to feel better, and as you take action to help yourself more and more
quickly, you will find that you spend more and more time feeling well
and less time feeling badly.
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