04/30/2019

How to Proactively Protect Your Own Mental Health

We can enhance our ability to cope with life's ups and downs

Science has not figured out a way to prevent mental health challenges, but we can do quite a lot to mitigate them — especially when we practice “good mental health hygiene.” I sat down with Deborah Miscoll, Psy.D., a psychologist and Managing Director at Deloitte to talk about mental health in the workplace. In this conversation, we discussed ways to proactively protect our mental health. 

Jen Fisher: Are mental health challenges preventable?
Deb Miscoll: Generally, experts agree that mental illness is caused by a complex combination of bio-psycho-social factors, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to help prevent the onset of symptoms. Early identification and treatment can help a lot. Simply checking in on our own feelings and thoughts on a regular basis can help a lot.

JF: You mentioned genetics.
DM: Yes. For instance, if you have a parent with depression, you may be at a higher risk to also have the condition. But other risk factors come into play too. It’s like cancer — just because the risk is present doesn’t mean you’re going to get the disease. With information and resources, you can do a lot for yourself to support good mental health, no matter what risk factors you may have.

Please select this link to read the complete interview from Thrive Global.