It’s difficult to overstate the importance your family plays when it comes to your mental health. Though many people will say that much of their stress comes from work, or friends, or dating, or even personal and private issues, family is often at the core either as a cause or as a cure for mental health issues.
To highlight some of the reasoning behind this, consider how addiction treatment often has established family roles, how horizontal and vertical stressors affect a person, the things that give you the most anxiety, who your biggest cheerleaders can be through tough times, and how tight certain living arrangements can be with regard to family.
Consider Family Treatment for Addiction
Have you ever noticed that one of the biggest parts of treatments programs for addiction and disorders is going to be some type of family therapy? It’s nearly impossible to get out of depressive or abusive cycles without the help of the people nearest to you, and in most cases, that’s going to be your immediate family, which is why they play such an important role in that mental aspect of recovery.
Understanding Horizontal and Vertical Stress
If you haven’t heard of horizontal and vertical stressors, then it’s definitely something to look into with regard to mental health. You can have stress from friends and your own personal adventures, and then you can have stress that is passed down through the generations. Particularly if you aren’t aware of them, these stressors can have a huge impact on your mental health, and you can even potentially pass them further down the genetic line without being aware of them if you aren’t careful.
Think About What Causes You Anxiety
If you take a moment and think about what causes you the most anxiety, how likely is it that your family will be at the center of the thought process, or some behavior of your own that you got from your family from your upbringing? Once again, this shows the role that immediately family is going to play in your mental health, either good or bad.
Family Can Be Your Biggest Cheerleaders
And who are going to be some of your biggest cheerleaders when it comes to you solving your problems? You’ll, of course, have your best friend or two there for you, but the loudest voices are nearly always going to come from your family telling you that you can do it!
Think About Living Arrangements with Parents and Children
When you think about how tightly packed families are, in literal physical spaces, especially when children are school age, it’s no surprise that the relationship between them is important for everyone keeping a clear head and good mental health. Communication in those tight spaces is going to be extremely vital.