3 Important Self Skills To Improve Mental Health

Illustration of improving mental health with self-skills (Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio)

YOGYAKARTA – In a series of studies, experts provide recommendations related to improving mental health. Starting from managing negative thoughts, increasing self-esteem, to getting a good support system. Steven C. Hayes, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada Reno, and four colleagues conducted an analysis that targeted the success of improving mental health through therapeutic methods from 54,633 studies.

The study was conducted over four years and found that one skill set proved to be much more effective than the other. That skill set is psychological flexibility which accounts for nearly 45 percent of why therapy works. When the concept was added to other methods, such as self-compassion, behavioral activation, and anxiety sensitivity, success increased by almost 55 percent. So what are the self-skill sets that are included as psychological flexibility? Launching Psychology Today, here's the explanation.

Awareness

The first pillar of psychological flexibility is awareness. With awareness, one recognizes the present moment including what thoughts arise, which feelings, what sensations the body feels, and the more spiritual part.

Present moment, cannot be experienced with words alone but needs to be experienced with full attention. To make it easier to imagine, Hayes gives examples, such as the difference between talking about the taste of oranges and actually tasting the fruit. Tasting the fruit straight away is much richer than the first.

Illustration of improving mental health with self-skills (Unsplash/Diana Polekhina)

Openness

Open-mindedness means allowing difficult thoughts, including painful ones, without changing them. This part is often difficult to understand, because many people tend to seek therapy to eliminate negative thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, the mind doesn't work this way, says Hayes.

The harder you take the pain away, the more that feeling will control your life. In contrast, openness is about dropping internal battles, letting your thoughts and feelings be without them needing to control you.

Valuable engagement

The things you think are important will be valuable in achieving your goals. This means you know what your goals are and how to achieve them. Hayes noted, these things need to be chosen freely, not forced or forced by others. He added again, avoid doing things without thinking out of the ordinary. Well, once you have clarity about what's important, then you can build sustainable habits that make life more meaningful.

Those are the three skills that need to be possessed to improve mental health. Close Hayes, psychological flexibility empowers you to stop fighting yourself and direct your life in a meaningful direction.