In honor of Mental Health Month and the American Psychological Association’s Blog Party, I thought I would share some little-known areas of life affected by mental health.  These are also areas and topics in which psychologists often help their clients.  Perhaps you, or someone you know might benefit from seeking the services of a psychologist for one of the following:

• Bullying.  Bullying happens for lots of reasons: anger, sadness, or feeling out of place.  Mental health concerns are not always the reasons a child (or adult) bullies, but they certainly can be.  And mental health can be negatively affected when one is bullied.  Psychologists can help kids, families, school, and communities prevent and cope with bullying.
• Managing chronic disease. Managing chronic diseases like diabetes, and coping with chronic pain is tough no matter who you are.  If you are suffering from depression, anxiety, or another mental illness, it can make the process even more difficult.  Psychologists can help these folks learn to manage their mood and anxiety, as well as adjust to their medical condition.
• Financial stability. Sometimes overspending is just overspending.  Sometimes, however, it can be the result of a larger issue with setting limits, delaying gratification, and even overall unhappiness with life.  If you’ve tried sticking to a budget and it just isn’t working, a psychologist may be able to help you understand why adopting new financial behaviors is so difficult – and then assist you in making changes that work.
• Improving your tennis game. Concentration, focus, physical performance, motivation – anxiety can wreak havoc on our performance.  Thanks to the publicity given to sports psychologists by athletes like Ron Artest, more and more people are understanding the positive impact psychologists can have on performance (whether it be athletic, musical, etc).
• Coping with divorce. We all know divorce is hard, even in the best circumstances.  But did you know that psychologists (together with other professionals) can help couples divorce with dignity through a process called collaborative divorce?  Something to look into.