7 Things a Therapist Avoids for Better Mental Health
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I spend my days helping people build better mental health habits. But just as much of that work is about knowing what not to let in. These are 7 things I would actively avoid.
1. Alcohol
The most important one on my list. If you’re wanting to have improved mental health, this is the most obvious behavior to change. People use it to decompress, but it's a depressant that disrupts sleep, spikes anxiety and depression symptoms the next day, and numbs rather than helps process emotions. The temporary relief makes the underlying issue worse over time.
Pro Tip: If you’re not ready to give up alcohol completely, make sure to not consume when you’re having a hard time.
2. Poor sleep
Treating sleep as optional is one of the fastest ways to destabilize mental health. Short term effects of reduced sleep lead to poor decision making and judgement, increased irritability and mood swings, higher levels of anxiety and stress, and lowered motivation. Your body needs to rest and recover.
Pro tip: If you’re struggling with sleep, try creating a nighttime routine that’ll help calm your mind and body.
3. Junk Food
The gut-brain connection is real. What you eat directly affects how you feel emotionally. Junk food can contribute to mood swings, low energy, poor concentration, increased anxiety, and a higher risk of depression when it becomes a regular dietary pattern. Foods high in sugar and refined carbohydrates can cause rapid spikes and crashes in blood sugar, which may affect mood and energy levels.
Pro Tip: You don’t need to complete switch your diet all at once. Talk to your doctor about ways to incorporate small changes over time.
4. Nicotine
Nicotine gives a quick hit of calm, but it's borrowed, not earned. Within a short window your body craves the next dose, and that withdrawal often feels like anxiety. It's easy to end up chasing relief from a problem the substance itself creates, training your nervous system to reach for a cigarette or vape instead of building real coping skills. It also disrupts sleep, which is foundational to mood regulation, so the "relaxation" often comes back around as next-day irritability and lower frustration tolerance.
Pro Tip: Try a 2-minute reset instead such as a short walk or a glass of cold water. It won't feel as instant, but it teaches your body that calm doesn't have to come from a substance.
5. Marijuana
Marijuana is often reached for as a way to unwind, quiet anxious thoughts, or help with sleep, but it can actually reinforce anxiety over time, especially with regular use. It works by numbing discomfort rather than resolving it, so the underlying stress or worry is still there once it wears off, just delayed. Regular use can also affect motivation, memory, and sleep quality, all of which play into mood and anxiety management, making it harder to build the coping skills that create lasting relief.
Pro tip: If using before bed, try a hot cup of non-caffeinated tea instead, and a manageable bed time routine.
6. Energy drinks
Energy drinks stack caffeine with sugar and stimulants in a way that hits harder and crashes faster than most people expect. That crash often shows up as fatigue, irritability, or a foggy kind of anxiety, which then gets mistaken for needing another can. Over time this creates a cycle of highs and lows that makes it much harder to read your body's actual signals about stress and energy.
Pro tip: If you need a lift, try a brisk 5-minute walk outside instead. Natural light and movement boost energy without the crash.
7. Doom Scrolling
Doom scrolling keeps the nervous system on constant alert, feeding it a stream of worst-case scenarios that the brain can't fully process or resolve. It tricks you into feeling informed and in control, when really it's just adrenaline with no outlet. The longer you scroll, the more your baseline for what feels "normal" shifts toward anxious and on-edge.
Pro tip: Set a hard stop time for news and social media each day, and replace that slot with something that has a clear ending such as a chapter of a book, a phone call, or a short walk.
To say I've never engaged in some of these activities would be a lie. When life gets hard and the anxiety gets high, it's easy to reach for the easy outs. However, each of these 7 habits takes far more than it gives. All of these activities affect us physically, mentally, and emotionally. The point isn't perfection.