How to prioritize your mental health — especially when it’s hard to do so
ASU health expert gives insight into how can we reduce stigma for mental health conditions
Illustration by Sara Montes Delgadillo.
Note: This interview was originally published in Doing Well, a health news outlet from ASU Media Enterprise and ASU Learning Enterprise. Subscribe to Doing Well to get interviews with health experts delivered to your inbox weekly.
By Kitana Ford
Stigma is a major barrier for those seeking mental health care.
The term stigma refers to negative attitudes, beliefs or stereotypes people have about things like mental health conditions. It can make living with those conditions feel isolating while also delaying or setting back treatment.
To learn how to have more open, empathetic conversations about mental health and to recognize when we may need support, Dr. Anthony Avellino — an advocate for physician mental health, a neurosurgeon, and president and chief medical officer of the HonorHealth Medical Group — is sharing insight into the toll of burnout in fields like medicine and lessons he’s learned from his own mental health journey.
Avellino is also a professor of medicine and the associate dean for clinical faculty affairs at Arizona State University's John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering.
Short on time? Here’s what to know:
- One in 5 people struggle with mental health, and suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people between 10 and 24 years old. If you’re struggling, you’re not alone, and there are resources that can help.
- One way to address stigma in mental health is by increasing awareness. To support someone who’s struggling, know the signs, share resources and listen.
- To perform your best, you have to take care of yourself mentally and physically. When we’re busy, that can be hard to prioritize. Try checking in with yourself regularly, and be honest about how you’re really doing. Are you doing something that brings you joy at least once a week? Are you connecting with your community? If the answer is no, start small — try calling a friend or going on a walk.
- To support your mental well-being, try to focus on finding meaning, expressing gratitude, serving others and not isolating yourself.
Note: This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
If you’re struggling with mental health, thoughts of suicide, or need someone to talk to, you can call or text 988. Help is available 24/7, for free. You can find additional support and resources with the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Question: You’re an advocate for reducing the stigma around mental health and for creating structures that support people’s mental well-being. What brought you to that work?
Answer: My journey is struggling with depression and OCD. The stresses of life really tipped me over — and in 2009, I tried to take my life. That day, I really hit rock bottom. I vowed that physician wellness and anyone’s wellness is really important, and no one should ever hit rock bottom.
As you go through the journey of life, you have to listen, you have to learn, and you have to heal. Everyone’s story is different, but it’s how you learn from it and how you heal from it. As a community, awareness is really important: What are the signs and symptoms? Letting people know there’s resources available. Listening is very powerful — because if you see someone in need, sitting down, exploring with them, listening to them, and directing them to the appropriate services can help each other find light in the darkest of times.
Q: What are the most important things you learned in your personal journey?
A: Performance equals skill minus interference. In order for us to perform our best, you can have all the skill in the world, but if you can’t block out that interference — if you’re not mentally prepared, not mentally well, not happy and satisfied, not doing purposeful work, not in healthy relationships, not showing compassion toward yourself — it’s difficult to really take care of yourself and perform.
You have to train your body, you have to train your craft, and you have to train your mind. It’s a lot easier said than done, but making sure you’re eating right, exercising, moving and sleeping — being a continuous learner and learning from your mistakes.
Step back and pause every three or four weeks and see how things are going: Am I doing things that bring me joy? And I often ask people, do you do one thing every week that brings you joy?
Q: One of the challenges with mental health and burnout in high-achieving fields is we don’t feel like we can talk about it. What would you say to someone who’s feeling like that?
A: It’s hard, because there is stigma. It’s really important that we raise awareness, because 1 out of 5 people struggle with this. For those 10 to 24 years of age, suicide is the second-leading cause of death.
As a physician, the burnout rate is (around) 40%. We have a lot of people going through tough, tough times. How do you have a community coming together, and how can you learn from each other and support each other to decrease levels of anxiety and stress?
One of things that people miss in the whole wellness or well-being journey is serving others. The sense of gratitude, the sense of serving others is highly protective, because it brings you meaning. Anything that brings one meaning or purpose decreases the level of stress. The other important thing I learned in my journey is when I cycle — even though I’m better now, I still have low days — having meaning, expressing gratitude, but also having the ability not to isolate yourself (helps). If you’re seeing someone struggling, lend a helping hand and listen.
Q: What excites you most about the future of mental health care?
A: As a neurosurgeon, I often say what cardiovascular care was the last 30 years is what neuroscience is going to be for the next 30 years. I think in the next 10 years, we’re really going to figure out how the brain works. In health care, we can do heart transplants, liver transplants and lung transplants. We actually know how the body works — but the brain, especially mental health (and) emotions, we know very little. Now, with a lot of these noninvasive imaging techniques, we’re learning more and more.