Usually, the end of the year comes with articles on top of articles and posts on top of posts about changes that people want to make and habits they want to start once the clock strikes midnight on January 1st. With those also come some sort of critiques, or sarcastic jabs about how resolutions never work, so what’s the point. The cycle is the same every single year.
To no surprise however, this year is a little bit different. While you’ve probably encountered some posts about resolutions (and critiques of them), you have more likely seen memes and posts about what a garbage year 2020 was and how 2021 is going to be a time of revival and even hope. Some memes have also made fun of that optimism, implying that those who are excited for 2021 should expect more of the same of everything that occurred in 2020.
It’s a lot to take in. While this year has been pretty terrible for basically everybody, we know that everyone’s grief, trauma, and issues from this year vary. It’s not up to us to tell you whether you should feel more hopeful or cynical about 2021.
With all of this considered though, we know that it can get overwhelming and confusing figuring out how you want to enter the new year. Resolutions and setting goals is a great way to start taking action on personal growth, but how do you figure out the overall mindset you want to have, especially when it comes to events that are out of your control? You might feel guilty for even daring to be optimistic, and intrusive thoughts – those negative, pessimistic thoughts that feel like they come out of nowhere that make you feel terrible about yourself and everything around you – can also have you spiraling about how 2021 is likely to be as awful as 2020.
Like we said: overwhelming and confusing. When thinking about the unknowns in the future, it’s important to remember that as much as we can plan, anything can happen. This isn’t meant to be scary or imply that planning is a waste of time, but to remind you that the idea that “anything can happen” can include good things just as equally as the bad, which our brains automatically tends to go towards. You have every right to be excited about what the new year might bring, even if you’re not 100% – or even 10% – sure about what’s in store. At the same time, it’s okay to not be excited, and even cynical that nothing will change significantly immediately.
Optimism and hope can feel silly and forced at times, but being able to change our thought patterns to tell ourselves that it’s okay to be excited and positive can help our moods and ways of going about things significantly, and entering 2021 accepting that might be the best time to begin practicing it.
We hope you (safely) enjoy your New Year’s Eve, and in the meantime, enjoy the multitude of “screw 2020” memes online.
What are you doing for New Year’s Eve? What has been your mindset and your thoughts about the end of this year and the start of 2021?
With seasonal affective disorder rearing its ugly, depressing head this time of year, we’ve gathered a few resources for you to check out (outside the blog posts blogging ambassadors have written about their experiences, of course!).
These resources include podcasts and videos where experts and those who have SAD give advice and educational information, as well as some links to light therapy treatments, one of the most popular coping mechanisms for SAD.
Relationships with celebrities and public figures on social media can be complicated, to say the least. They’re glamorous, rich, and doing their dream careers, but are also relatable and remind us that even the most extravagant of people are human. It’s a combination of helping us realize what we can achieve and what we can do with our lives, but makes it very easy to compare ourselves to those with makeup and stylist teams, not to mention making us vulnerable to developing parasocial relationships with them.
This past week, Jesy Nelson left her girl group Little Mix and Mako left his gaming group The Mob (part of 100 Thieves) due to the negative impact that their careers were having on their mental health. There’s a lot to be said about their decisions to leave their respective groups and how social media played a role. For example, Jesy has been open about how she’s frequently the victim of cyberbullying and online trolls to the point of suicidality, while Mako has talked about how being a content creator wasn’t for him and how the lifestyle was contributing to him feeling unstable and that he’s now seeking therapy. We could also talk about how social media has given them the opportunity to be open with their fans about their mental health – like many celebrities and content creators today – not just to help their fans feel less alone, but as an outlet for themselves.
This week however, we wanted to talk about how you could be working toward, working in, or even just considering about how to go about your dream job, but you have to make sure to put your mental health first, just like Jesy and Mako. It doesn’t even have to be as big wanting to be a popstar, or fun as streaming games, but if you’re working towards something that requires a lot of effort and time, it can be easy to believe that the more you focus on your goals, the sooner and likelier you are to achieve them. Even if you accomplish your dream job, it can also easy to believe that only good will happen. Social media can contribute to this, with the accounts you may be following that are related to your field constantly trying to inspire you and give you opportunities. However, you have to remember that you’re human too, and if you don’t take a step back every now and again to make sure you’re feeling okay, you can quickly burnout. Your brain won’t care where you are in your career journey.
What is your dream job? What are career goals that you’re considering? Do you follow accounts about them, or big names who are in that field? When you’re in the zone when working on something you’re passionate about, how is your mental health?
The blog post includes a discussion about suicide. Please read with caution if any of these items triggers or upsets you.
Talking about suicide with your parent(s) can feel tricky and intimidating- what if they get upset? What if they don’t believe you? These are all normal concerns to have but overcoming these apprehensions could be a game-changer when you are struggling.
Findings show that talking about suicide does not encourage someone to attempt suicide. In fact, it may be a great first step in preventing it. Opening the door to open, honest conversation can remove any shame and fear you may be feeling and gives you the opportunity to get the best support possible. This may be new territory for your parent and they may feel nervous, too.
Set the stage
Find a space and time where you feel comfortable talking openly and make sure it will be at a time when your parent can give you their full attention.
Be direct
While it may seem easier to tiptoe around your feelings or couch your answers to make others feel comfortable, it might make it harder for your parent to get a full picture of your experience.
Explain what you need
It can be so hard for parents to avoid jumping in with a “fix” but it is important that they really listen to what you are saying (check out our article about venting for some tips). Preparing ahead of time and practicing what to say could be a great way to make sure you are conveying the information that is important to you.
Get (the right) help
Talk about seeking help and share what kind of provider/clinician you would be comfortable seeing, and if you have reached out or done research to find one already.
If you feel that you are in immediate danger and emergency measures need to be taken, call 911, call an emergency mental health line (resolve Crisis Services can be reached 24/7 at 1-888-796-8226), or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
Have you ever had a conversation with your parent(s) about heavier topics such as suicide? If so, how did it go, and what would you have done differently? If not, but you’ve wanted to, what prevented you from doing so?
The majority of these resources apply to transportation in the Pittsburgh area. We hope that the other resources listed help those who live outside of Pittsburgh, or that you are able to find similar resources in your area too.
Transportation to and from appointments can be a big challenge to overcome while getting treatment. Availability, cost, and convenience can be major factors, and finding resources is not always easy. Fortunately, we have put together a list of possible solutions to help ease the burden of transportation.
Telehealth or virtual options
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many more providers are able to offer virtual appointments, eliminating the need for transportation altogether. If you haven’t already, ask your provider if virtual appointments are an option for you. If you are considering treatment, ask potential providers if you can visit them virtually.
ACCESS
ACCESS is a door-to-door rideshare service that is sponsored by Pittsburgh’s Port Authority and coordinates with 140 agencies to make transportation available to everyone. The cost varies, but the service aims to be low-cost and discount programs are available. Drivers are screened and the rides are video-monitored for safety.
MATP
For those who live in Allegheny County and qualify for Medicaid, the Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP) is an option and provides free transportation to non-emergency medical appointments. They offer free tickets for public transportation that can be given ahead of time, reimbursement for private or public transportation, and other free shared-ride services.
ZipCar
ZipCar is a twist on the traditional rental car. Cars are available 24/7 and can be rented by the hour. The driver simply picks up the car from a designated location (the website allows you look up locations around you) and drops it back off when they are done. Gas and insurance are included in the cost, which starts around $12.
Port Authority
Pittsburgh’s bus and rail system is another option for ways to commute through the city and surrounding areas. There are also park and ride options available for those coming from farther away and a free-fare zone on the rail system! The Port Authority site is a great resource that can help you plan your commute ahead of time and you can learn more about all the options they provide to commuters.
Carpooling and Rideshare Services
Carpooling and rideshare services are available through a variety of agencies. Uber and Lyft have carpooling options where passengers can either request a solo ride or share with other passengers for a lower fee. There are several sites that work to create a carpool or rideshare network for passengers and more info about these services, including this one for Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Discounted Parking
Many of the hospitals and other medical buildings in Pittsburgh – and other cities – offer discounted parking passes for patients. Ask your medical facility if they offer any parking discounts to make your commute easier.
Please feel free to share any resources that you have used or any services you’d like to know more about!What is your primary mode of transportation? Has your ability to go to treatment been affected by how you’re able (or not able) to get there?
Affordable health care, including mental health care, should be available to everyone. Unfortunately, understanding insurance is no easy task and navigating through state-funded insurance can be even trickier. We have put together a guide to try to make the process easier.
How does private insurance pay?
Insurance companies set up contracts with providers. The contract is an agreement between the provider and the insurance company that states what service the insurance company agrees to pay for.
Think about when you get a haircut. It’s as if your provider is a hair dresser, and the insurance company makes an agreement that says they will pay $50 for a women’s haircut and $40 for a men’s haircut, and do not cover hair coloring.
When a provider is “in-network,” it means that they have this contract set up with the insurance company. Some insurance plans will only pay for services with in-network providers and some plans will also pay out-of-network providers.
Your insurance plan should be able to provide you a list with what they will pay for and what you agree to pay. That part is called the “co-pay.” Some plans might have a $0 co-pay, while some might have a certain amount for when you go to an “in-network” versus “out of network” provider. It all depends on the plan. The best place to go to look for information about the plan is to either call the number on the back of your insurance card or to go on the insurance provider’s website.
When you get a service (like in the example a women’s haircut), your provider will send the insurance company a claim (like a bill). Your insurance company will pay your provider what they said they would pay and then they expect you will pay your portion, the “co-pay.” Unfortunately, sometimes the insurance company will “deny the claim” and that they disagree to pay. So, if you got highlights with your haircut and your insurance company said they only pay for haircuts, they can refuse to pay. Sometimes the insurance company will only pay for the haircut when it is associated with a specific diagnosis. Your hairdresser (healthcare provider) needs to write down specifically that you needed a haircut for a certain hair length, and the insurance provider won’t pay unless they document this.
Although it can seem meaningless, this is why providers have to write down a diagnosis for you, even if it might not be clear. Your insurance might pay the bill (claim) when your provider writes down “generalized anxiety disorder,” but they won’t pay if your provider writes down “stress”.
If the insurance company still refuses to pay, then the bill goes to you. These bills can be very high. Sometimes you can dispute them, meaning that you can call your insurance or your provider can call the insurance plan to argue for why they should pay. Sometimes this means that a healthcare provider seeing you has to talk to a healthcare provider working for the insurance company to make an exception by explaining the situation.
Mental Health Coverage
Since 2014, most insurance plans are required to cover mental health services and all state Medicaid plans have some type of mental health coverage, including CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Plan). This coverage extends to therapy, substance use disorder treatment, social work services, and medications. As part of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies are required to provide an easy-to-understand breakdown of coverage in these enrollment materials and online. You can also check with your insurance company and they can connect you to in-network providers in your area.
Behavioral health services like therapy can be paid for in different ways. When you see a therapist that belongs to a primary care office, for example, they might be billing under the doctor’s license, or the medical part of your insurance. If you see them in a behavioral health location, they may be billing under the behavioral part of the insurance. Some insurance plans in certain states will have a “carve-out.” This means that they have another company handle the behavioral health part. That is why it is important that you know which part of your plan the behavioral health provider is billing under, that you know whether your plan applies the same rules to medical or behavioral, or if they have a “carve-out” with completely different rules for how behavioral health gets paid for.
This is a complicated system! It’s almost impossible to understand as a patient, and can make it hard to get treatment. But you can still navigate the system while mental health groups advocate with policy makers to make this easier.
Here is some more information about what to do
if you do not have a private insurance:
Medicaid Eligibility
Medicaid is a public insurance. The funds for Medicaid come from both the federal and state government. These funds are divided between different companies that take the money and apply federal and state rules on how to spend it. In Pennsylvania, some examples of these types of insurance companies are UPMC for YOU and Gateway. When you sign up for Medicaid, you pick who you want to be the insurance company that helps you access these public funds. If you are in the state of Pennsylvania, visit COMPASS to apply for Medicaid .
To qualify for Medicaid in Pennsylvania, you must be: a PA resident, a U.S. national, citizen, permanent resident, or a non-citizen who is legally living in the country. Typically, you have to meet some income requirements to show you are low-income (you are uninsured or under-insured or in a financial situation that would be characterized as low income). But there are other things that can make you qualify for Medicaid even if you are not categorized as low-income. Children who have a mental health problem can apply for Medicaid, even if their current insurance doesn’t cover it. If you are pregnant, responsible for a child 17 years of age or younger, or have a disability or a family member in your household with a disability, you may also qualify.
If you need insurance and do not have it, going through the process to see if you qualify for Medicaid is a good idea. Medicaid provides access to services and there is usually no co-pay, so everything is paid for by the state and federal government. If you are under 18, and you do not qualify for Medicaid, your parent can also apply for CHIP, which is insurance for children who are not low-income enough to get Medicaid but whose parents cannot afford insurance for them.
Therapy Without Insurance
Mental health services without insurance coverage can be costly, sometimes up to $100 per hour or more. However, there are options for low-cost therapy. Finding an office with a sliding-scale – where cost varies based on your ability to afford the treatment – is a great place to start and you should check with your provider to see if that is an option or if they have any other payment options. There are also several federally-funded mental health treatment centers in the area. Feel free to check out http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/ to find the center closest to you.
What have been your biggest struggles in navigating and understanding insurance? Is there anything you would like to know more about? We’ll try to help answer your questions about insurance and mental health in future posts!
When you are asked to carve out part of your day to talk to your therapist, it can make therapy appear like a time-consuming endeavor. However, the benefits of therapy do not occur immediately. So, when considering if treatment is a waste of time, it is important to think about its long-term effects.
One of the symptoms of depression is a lack of energy and no desire to carry out tasks that you want or need to complete. Similarly, those who suffer from anxiety can expend so much energy worrying about the task at hand that they end up putting off their work. As a result, often depression and anxiety go hand in hand with procrastination. The issue with procrastination is that it initially disguises itself as a helpful coping mechanism. However, it can lead to wasted time and a more massive pile of work to tackle.
A big part of therapy is tackling what causes you to shut down in the first place. Whether it’s a lack of energy or anxiety about your performance, therapy can offer you the tools to take control of your time once more.
Meanwhile, here are some other tips to help you in your journey to combat procrastination:
It is not possible to be perfect. Also, there is never the ideal time for anything, so start now.
Making an effort is a good thing!
Failure is a part of life. It is NOT dangerous or shameful. It’s worth giving things a shot.
Have you cancelled or put off going to therapy because you feel like it is taking up too much time in your schedule? Do you procrastinate? How do you feel when you procrastinate?
This week, we wanted to share a few resources from professional mental health websites and practitioners to learn some coping mechanisms and suggestions specifically for the holiday season. We feel an obligation to be happy and cheery this time of year, but the reality is, it’s just as easy to feel depressed during the holidays as happy. No matter the reason for whatever may be making this holiday season difficult, we hope some of the following links may be of some help:
How are you feeling now that the holidays are in full swing? What kind of things are you struggling with? What are things that you are seeking for help or to feel better?
How many social media platforms can you name off the top of your head? There’s Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn (yes, even LinkedIn), Discord, Twitch…the list goes on.
Now, ask yourself how many of these platforms you have accounts on. This includes the ones you don’t even use anymore, but still have login information – and sometimes still receive notifications from. Do you have multiple accounts on the same platform too?
Finally, think about how much time per day you spend on each of these platforms and app. If you’re willing to take the risk, you can check your Screen Time to get more precise information, but you’ll also want to consider the amount of time you check these apps on other devices like your laptop and tablets if you have them.
We’ve talked extensively about how to prioritize and cleanse your platforms to give yourself the best social media experience, but even those we don’t even log on or rarely use can still make us feel anxious, and for those who are vulnerable to it, depressed. For example, remembering an old account of yours might fill you with dread with the content that now embarrass you, or even remind you of negative encounters that you had on there.
You may also be using accounts differently depending on how active you are on them. There might be accounts that you’re constantly using to talk to people or create content for, but then there might be others where you do nothing but scroll and/or watch videos. This is called passive social media use: those who spend more time passively engaging on social media are more likely to show depressive symptoms, while those who are actively engaging (like creating content, talking to others, and doing things beyond just scrolling and liking) are less likely to show depressive symptoms.
Having a ton of social media accounts can be fun at times. Since we’re always connected and online, it’s a way to make us feel that there’s no way that we can possibly be bored. However, what we do (or don’t do) on these sites may have an affect on our mental health, even if we don’t realize it.
With all this information, you may want to consider an end-of-year digital cleanse and think about permanently deactivating some of your accounts. If you haven’t touched your Facebook, an old Twitter account, or your finsta in years, it may be time to get rid of them for good. While TikTok is without a doubt entertaining, if you don’t make any, spend hours just watching and feeling negative about yourself by comparing your looks, humor, or editing skills to others, it may be something you also want to remove.
Sometimes, less is more, and social media platforms are no exception.
Have you ever permanently deleted a social media account before? What are old platforms that you used to use that you no longer go on?
Thanksgiving is a tricky holiday to navigate. Although it’s meant to be, well, a thankful time of year, it can still be painful for many. The history behind the holiday, the emphasis of being around family, and the potential of being around all kinds of triggers can make the upcoming week mentally taxing. Others might be anxious about the expectation of cooking for hours, while many might be grieving this year due to losses of those close to them or not being able to hold a “traditional” Thanksgiving due to the pandemic.
For today’s resources, we wanted to share a few stories about coping during Thanksgiving. They cover a variety of potential triggers, and if you aren’t able to relate to any of them, at least understand that you’re not alone if this time of year is harder for you than others.
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