01/02/2024

Therapists Provide Nine Mental-health Resolutions for 2024

Consider these steps to improve your mental healthcare

Whether you feel reborn, or even just a little bit reset, at the start of a new year, consider making your mental health a priority in 2024. Why? "Because that's the gateway to everything else," said Guy Winch, a clinical psychologist, author of Emotional First Aid, and co-host of the Dear Therapistspodcast. "It's the linchpin that allows you to succeed or to fail."

With that in mind, we asked Winch and other experts to share the New Year's resolutions they wish people would make in the name of mental health.

1. Rethink your social-media use

Spend some time reflecting on whether you’d like to continue with the same online habits in 2024, said Nedra Glover Tawwab, a therapist and author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself. (If it’s hard to stop scrolling long enough to have an earnest conversation with yourself, take it as a sign that you need a change.) “Do you want to set some boundaries for yourself? Are there people you need to unfollow?” asked Tawwab. For example, you might limit yourself to 15 minutes on social media per day—or delete the most time-sucking apps from your phone during the work week. You could also challenge yourself not to check social media when you’re feeling glum, which is like throwing fuel on an already simmering fire. “The top of the year is a great time to consider how you want to do the rest of the year,” Tawwab said.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.