What are the best health strategies for someone with a mental illness?

Outside of medical treatment and traditional therapies, can you suggest activities and lifestyle changes that are widely considered helpful for recovery from mental illness and ongoing health information management?

Answers

Actually I just read physical activities help improve both mental and physical health. Sports and other physical activities help a lot in improving and developing the functions of the brain. In case of depression it helps improve how someone feels. In my country there are farms for people with mental health problems to help them feel better.

The question is so general that it's hard to provide any more specific information. Treating "mental illness" as if it is a unified problem, rather than a large category containing specific diseases and conditions with sometimes contradictory treatments and recommendations, makes answering your question a bit of a challenge.

For many of the people I know, quitting smoking would be a huge improvement.

Reduce stress with (for example) emotional freedom technique and by exploring heartwishes and blocks that aren't necesary anymore but stop the person from dreaming....! From 'have to' to 'wishing, wanting and willing!' Back to self!

I have some close friends who have mental health issues. They do best when they keep their prescriptions "fine tuned" and take good care of themselves.

For some, that's taking walks and meeting with their friends to maintain their social connections. For others, it's eating healthy, and helping others through volunteer work, such as reading to 1st graders at their local elementary school. I think it is important to remember big strides have been made in the areas of mental illness management, and you should make sure that you feel comfortable with your health care provider so that you get the support that you need.

Don't forget that we all deal with various health issues in our lives, and you are not alone.

I believe that we often overlook the power of working with the couple or the nearest person to the one identified as having a mental illness. In my work, the focus is less on the symptoms of the identified patient and more on the relationship. For example, depression, anxiety or hallucinations will only worsen if you feel isolated and ashamed and cannot share the experience with a loved one. In couples therapy the focus should not be on the individual's symptoms then, but on how the couple partner to face the symptoms.

You might as well ask, "what are the best strategies for someone with a physical illness?" There are a host of conditions lumped together under "mental illness" with a huge variety of widely different physiological and psychological roots.

That said... other people have given good advice here about exercise and healthy living. There's clinical evidence that regular exercise can help people overcome depression.

One thing I've seen help people with mental health problems is to stop using stimulants and mood-altering substances - even the legal ones. A guy I know suffers from a variety of problems, but they got way better when he switched to decaf coffee.

It might also help to get tested for allergies. I've known people who had very odd responses to particular foods.

It was recommended to our family when my daughter (age 13) was suffering from depression. The treatment involved no drugs whatsoever. The improvement was immense. She only went for treatment for about a year (once a month if I recall correctly). Although positive changes were visible almost immediately. Now she is almost 24 and has had no problems (relapse) since.