Self-care can be a wonderful thing. And it’s become an increasingly popular trend, especially as the conversation about mental health awareness and wellness has spread. Maybe you gave it a try, and it did help reduce your worry and stress. But maybe it didn’t really seem to do much. Or maybe it seemed to make things worse. Is that even possible, you might wonder - can self-care actually increase your anxiety in certain cases? If this has been your experience, there are a few reasons why you might be having this reaction. And yes, there are some changes you can make in order to have self-care be more effective for you.

Many people think the self-help genre is the only category which could potentially be effectual in terms of enhancing mental health and well-being. This just isn’t true! In reality, there are several reasons you should consider stepping out of the self-improvement aisle. You might even be surprised to learn that FICTION might be the best thing to read when you’re feeling anxious or depressed.

A lot of people who come to me for counseling experience symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. Some have been told the root cause is a biochemical imbalance. However, I have discovered that, most of the time, this simply isn’t true. Usually, we come to agree that one or more of the following 8 habits is usually contributing to their distress:

In general, few people meet the daily nutritional needs of their body. If you’re diagnosed with an eating disorder there’s a high probability that you are missing out on a few, possibly even many, micronutrients. Your brain and body can be helped, or harmed, depending on what you’re eating (or, in many cases, not eating). Take, for example, B12 - a Vitamin B12 deficiency has been implicated when it comes to the development of depression.