Avoidance. Boy we’re great at it aren’t we? As soon as anything becomes even remotely painful we want to avoid it. Why? Because it’s easier, because no one likes feeling pain, because change seems hard. We’re even conditioned in our every day lives to choose avoidance. Got a headache? Take Panadol. Cut your arm? Put a Band-Aid and some ointment on it. If we’re feeling unwell there are a myriad of solutions to make us feel better. It’s everywhere. This all works well when it comes to physical health because we need issues to be solved quickly when it comes to our physical health. It’s not the case though with our mental health. Quick fixes in the way of avoidance have rarely, if at all been helpful when it comes to managing mental healthcare. Examples of avoidant behaviour looks like:
Keeping a busy schedule so as not to have to face anything
Delaying making important decisions
Mindless scrolling through your phone
Spending less time with people who tell us the truth
Drinking or eating in order to forget
Having sex in order to avoid conflict
Dismissing negative emotions
Thinking about things but not implementing actions to promote change
Making jokes about painful events
Losing yourself in work
Whatever we do to manage our mental healthcare that’s helpful for us needs to be applied consistently for it to be beneficial. The benefits come after, not right away. This is likely why it can be challenging when dealing with mental health because it’s so effortful and change doesn’t happen right away. Is it worth it? Anything that improves quality of life, even if it causes short term pain for long term gain, is likely worth it.
If you need support to avoid avoidance give our team a call on (03) 9882 8874 to book an appointment.
To subscribe and listen to our podcast “Breaking the Rules: A Clinician’s Guide to Treating OCD”, click on the following links: Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. Episodes will be released fortnightly and will simultaneously be published on our webpage here.
This blog was written and prepared by Dr Celin Gelgec – Clinic Director and Clinical Psychologist at Melbourne Wellbeing Group.