Your relationships with yourself and with others are both foundational to good mental health. Disconnects in your sense of self or your social life have a reciprocal relationship with the types of symptoms and conditions that we treat at Lightfully. Sometimes they play a role in the development of mental health conditions, and other times, they come as a result. Either way, working on self-acceptance and acceptance of your reality can help you improve your mental health. Building supportive relationships will also help you maintain mental wellness in the long term.

In this article, we’ll break these concepts down and list eight reasons why acceptance and social support are critical for good mental health.

8 ways acceptance and support can lead to better mental health

Self-awareness and self-acceptance are two important ingredients that you need to develop a healthy sense of self-worth. You also need awareness and acceptance in general to process your emotions effectively. People who experience a lot of distress, on some level, may have difficulty accepting their life situations and the things that have happened to them. Practicing acceptance means accepting that you can’t change the past and trying to see things for what they are. It also requires you to surrender your desire for control. You can’t always choose how you feel, but you can choose not to fixate on negative thoughts and emotions. Once you’ve fully accepted the truth of a situation, you can start to move forward and focus on what you can control.

Practicing acceptance allows your nervous system to feel more grounded and safe. We also need supportive relationships with other people to feel a sense of well-being. Specifically, we need others to mirror our nervous system states so we can feel seen, accepted and valued. It takes some interpersonal skills to maintain healthy relationships, and support groups and group therapy are great places to build these skills.

The following are eight reasons why acceptance and social support are critical for good mental health: 

• Seeing the truth for what it is — Denial, self-delusion and the need to control circumstances can keep you mired in negative feelings. Acceptance and support allow you to process these things and take the sting out of your most upsetting thoughts. Once you’ve done this, you can start putting some distance between yourself in the present and your past.
• Integrating all the parts of yourself without judgment — Acceptance and support are the tools you’ll use to start building a positive self-image. Before you can love yourself for who you are, you need to accept the many parts of you without judging. At that point, you can start to make intentional choices and change your narrative.
• Cultivating self-awareness and mindfulness — Acceptance isn’t something you do just once. It should be an ongoing practice. Mindfulness is a way of being that combines acceptance with heightened awareness, focus, and other values that help you stay grounded and live the life you want. 
• Gaining perspective and distance from your past — When you’ve practiced acceptance, you can tell yourself, “Yes, it was unbearable, but that was then.” You can allow yourself to make new choices and develop a new perspective on your life.
• Supporting nervous system healing — Practicing acceptance and receiving support both help your nervous system relax. You can start to take down your defenses and learn when it’s safe to be vulnerable. When you can feel vulnerable, you can seek the connection, reassurance and help that you need to heal.
• Getting things off your chest — Keeping things bottled up can make you feel uncomfortable and anxious at best. At worst, it can lead to explosive feelings. Sometimes we need the support of another person so we can talk through these feelings out loud.
• Learning how to build trusting relationships — We need trusting relationships to be mentally well and to handle challenges in life. It takes some practice to develop interpersonal skills, and supportive environments help us do this.
• Feeling like part of a community — Being a part of a community can be a great source of motivation to keep you going when things are difficult. With some support, you can find a place where you feel like you belong.

When you’re not feeling mentally well, it can seem impossible to accept your life as it is and seek out support. We work with many people who feel unworthy of acceptance and support when they start treatment. It’s OK to feel that way. However, that doesn’t mean there’s any truth in your feelings of unworthiness. Those feelings are parts of you that need love and acceptance. 

Accepting the facts of your life and reaching out for help can be difficult at first. This stage of healing doesn’t last forever. When you begin treatment, you’ll meet other people who are choosing to start their healing journey. Taking those first steps together and working through the most difficult feelings with a psychotherapist help most people find some relief. At that point, the rest of your transformation into the new you begins.

Are you struggling with acceptance and support on your mental health journey? At Lightfully, you’re welcome to come as you are. Contact us with any questions you have about treatment or reach out to our Admissions Concierge Team. Let’s talk about what you’re feeling and where to go from here.