A men's mental health advocate has revealed one major step he took to help him deal with anxiety - and it's a simple step anyone can do.
Keith Russell - the creator of mental health podcast 'The Endless Spiral' - says that putting pen to paper and writing down his thoughts lead to a huge breakthrough with his anxiety.
Keith has suffered from depression, anxiety and body dysmorphia, but says writing has played a huge role in taking care of his mental health.
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He told Dublin Live: “I had therapy for my depression in my 20s and I only told my therapist. I had therapy for anxiety in my 30s and only told my therapist.”
“Only last year, I had time to think and I decided to write my thoughts down and they turned into a blog. The onion started to unravel. I wrote another one and people started to share their stories with me, then the spiral started. It was scary sharing it. I wrote about using sport as an escapism but looking back, I was actually using it as an avoidance. It took me to write things down to actually see it.
“I spoke to other people, my therapist and the onion unravelled. Then I got to the root cause of the anxiety and depression because I swept things under the rug for so long.
“It starts off as something small and when you don’t deal with it, it becomes larger and larger.
“I turned my nose up at journaling and writing for a long time. Then I did it and I realised that getting your thoughts out of your head is so therapeutic. When you keep things to yourself, you only have your own point of view as a reference.
“You’re only talking to the negative side of yourself and you won’t get anywhere. Talking to friends is so important. When you’re in that headspace, it’s not a nice place to be.”
Keith believes that anyone who makes fun of you for opening up about your mental health isn’t your friend. He recommends getting rid of toxic people in your life and finding people that listen to you.
He said: “I wouldn’t call them friends if they’re going to react to something like that.
“I’ve heard so many times of people having to get rid of toxic people around them to make them feel better and if that’s going to happen you have to find someone that actually will be able to listen to you.
“They don’t even need to give you advice, they can just sit there and listen.
“If men share their stories, hopefully it inspires some men to speak to someone and find help. When I eventually opened up, the support I got was so surprising.”
Keith believes Men’s Mental Health Week is an important time to engage with the male population, and address issues that are often ignored by men.
He said: “I’ve lived with body dysmorphia for a long time and that’s classed as an anxiety condition. It’s important, even just for one week, to bring the focus towards men.
“Especially in Ireland, there’s still a stigma there. It took me a long, long time to open up. I was 40 when I eventually decided to share my story in public, even then it was difficult. I was thinking that people would ask why did I leave it so late? Why haven’t you dealt with it before?
“I think it was easy for me to sweep things under the rug and it can be easy for a lot of men to do that. Men have this image where they have to be dominant, masculine, show no weaknesses, don’t be vulnerable and don’t show emotions. It’s absolute nonsense.
“What happens then there’ll be a build up, it’ll catch up to you and you’ll crash. It’s like a volcano bubbling away, you can’t see it but there’ll be an eruption at some stage.”
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