How I Use My Words to Promote Mental Well-Being
Julia Isaacs
| 3 min read
Julia Isaacs is the Director of Behavioral Health St...
If you have been around small children for any extended time, you have likely heard someone in their life tell them to “use your words” when they were upset or frustrated. Having the ability to effectively communicate your needs and understand the way you feel is an art we often stop developing pretty early in life. The emotional experience gets boiled down to happy, sad, angry or some form of “fine.”
In contrast, when you visit a doctor for a physical pain, robust adjectives seem to come pretty easily. It’s a dull pain – not sharp or stabbing. It aches but doesn’t really burn. It’s warm to the touch, but there is no swelling. That is a lot more information than when we ask someone how they are feeling, emotionally.
Why it's important to speak up about your mental health struggles
If you cannot even describe the parameters of your emotional experience, it is unlikely you will be able to make meaningful changes to improve your circumstance or modify your perspective and alleviate that emotional pain.
The good news is that we can all learn to expand our mental health and well-being vocabulary by doing a little research and reflecting on our own feelings a bit more. I recommend Brene Brown’s book “Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience,” or the associated documentary.
Gaining mastery of our emotional words is one empowering way to ensure we fully understand when we’re well and can describe when we are not. Many people who struggle with their mental health are unable to describe the depth and breadth of what they are experiencing.
Untreated mental health conditions significantly impact all aspects of an individual’s life. There is a 50% chance a person will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime. This prevalence is higher than diabetes, yet people are much more likely to get screened and treated for this and other physical conditions than they are for mental health or substance use disorders.
What Blue Cross is doing to increase behavioral health care access
At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, we are committed to ensuring everyone has access to the right behavioral health care at the right time. We’re proud of our ongoing efforts to reduce stigma, improve access, and continue advancing the field of mental health.
Our latest initiatives aim to improve both timely access and the quality of care. When individuals seek help from behavioral health providers in our network, we want them to feel confident they will receive the support they need. Through the development of innovative inpatient and outpatient care models, we are working to ensure efficient, high-quality services that can positively impact the lives of hundreds of thousands across the state.
In addition to these efforts, our team collaborates each year with community partners to raise awareness and increase education around key behavioral health issues. These partnerships are a vital part of our broader strategy to support well-being at every level.
Together, through advocacy, partnership, and continued innovation, we remain dedicated to building a future where mental health is accessible, effective, and stigma-free for all.
This Mental Health Awareness Month, you’re invited to take a survey to enter a random prize drawing. The grand prize is a Fitbit Inspire 3, or you could win a mindfulness coloring book. Click here to participate by Friday, May 30.
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Medically Reviewed by: Michael Kobernick, M.D.
