Healthy Habits Tips – Talking To Your Doctor About Emotional Problems

Everyone has felt sad or blue, or nervous or anxious at one time or another. But what do you do when these feelings start getting the best of you?

Most of us don’t think twice about talking to our doctor about a stomach ache, headache, rash or cold, but what about other kinds of symptoms? What about when we are feeling very sad or anxious, or are having a difficult time concentrating? Somehow, when it comes to our emotions or thoughts we find it much harder to talk to our doctor. Why is that?

Here are some common reasons:

1. Psychological problems are just not as serious as physical problems
2. My doctor only cares about physical problems
3. Talking about emotional problems is a sign of weakness
4. I don’t want my doctor to think I’m crazy

When our thoughts and feelings get the best of us, we often feel like we are all alone. The truth is that emotional and psychological problems are incredibly common. In fact, 22% of Americans, roughly 44 million people, suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. And 4 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. are mental disorders.

Physicians are not mind readers as much we would like them to be. Psychological problems can be as debilitating if not more so than many physical problems. The bottom line is that if you want your physician to help, you are going to have to tell him or her and here is a strategy to make the conversation easier:

First, you need the right mindset:

1. Psychological problems are just as serious and treatable as physical problems.
2. It’s up to you to describe your symptoms and problems in an efficient way.
3. Dealing with psychological problems may mean seeing a mental health professional.

Second, you need to be prepared and ready for the visit to discuss the problems:

1. Be honest. Don’t downplay emotional symptoms.
2. Describe emotional symptoms just like physical symptoms (frequency, intensity, changes in symptoms).
3. Let your doctor know how these symptoms are impacting your daily life.

Finally, make sure you leave the office visit with a clear game plan:

1. Know what your treatment options are (therapy, medication, follow-up visit).
2. Discuss the options with your physician and decide what will work best for you.
3. If you will be seeing a mental health specialist, get contact information from your physician’s office.

This strategy will help make the conversation with your physician easier and smoother, but the most important recommendation is that once you have a game plan please follow through. So many people simply don’t follow up because they think the problems will just go away. Sometimes they will, but they will often get much worse. There are so many effective treatments for psychological and emotional problems, but it does take you to get the ball rolling. Talking about emotional problems is not sign of weakness; not talking about them and not doing something about them is a sign of weakness.

For more information on mental health problems and treatment contact the National Mental Health Association at: 1-800-969-NMHA (6642) or www.nmha.org.

What you do or don’t do every day affects both your physical and mental health. Talking with your physician about psychological and emotional problems is a very smart and healthy habit that may actually save your life.

1. 1. psychological problems are as serious as physical problems;
2. talking about your symptoms is your responsibility;
3. you may be referred to a mental health professional.

1. be honest and don’t downplay symptoms;
2. describe emotional symptoms just like physical symptoms;
3. discuss the impact of symptoms on your life.

1. know your treatment options;
2. discuss options and decide what will work best for you;
3. If you are referred get a name and telephone number before leaving.

Log onto Healthy Habits with Dr. Josh Klapow for more tips on how to build healthy habits and keep them.