Long distance or not, friendships are bonds to be cherished. Experts explain how these can be beneficial for our mental health too!
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Friendships – one relation that makes the good time happier and bad times a little bit more easy to handle. Every friendship has its essence, and believe it or not, these affect one’s mental health too! More recently, friendship has been portrayed in many movies like Dil Chahta Hai and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, to name a few, each highlighting the importance of friendship in daily life. One can be an introvert and still have that little friend circle. One does not need a dozen full group to keep up the social life. These relations run deeper in than they seem like. These threads of emotions have a sync with internal systems. Believe it or not, friends do impact one’s mental health. And experts believe it too! India.com got in touch with experts to elaborate on the importance of being socially active and how really do healthy friendships affect mental health.
How Friendships Affect Mental Health?
In the contemporary era, friendships are just on the surface, while some run deep down. Some are high maintenance, some are low-maintenance. As GenZ may say, “some are toxic friends” and some are actually necessary for your health! Friends helps us keep ourselves grounded, they can be our better critics, and give perspectives. And cherishing these threads of relations is essential.
Priyanka Kapoor, Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Mumbai says, “Good friendships are essential for support, resiliency, and optimism throughout life. We can grow and learn from one another when we have close pals. In addition to increasing our network and giving us a lot of emotional and mental support, these things also benefit us both personally and professionally. It’s crucial for developing personally.”
These sessions with our friends also help us boost our confidence, become sure of ourselves and enhance our self-esteem. There’s no one better than friends to hype us up when we are anxious or nervous, and not only does this boost our self-worth, it also gives us a push to do better and to succeed.
The Importance of Being Socially Active?
The digital age has made our lives easier in several ways but the race to stay upgraded and stay ahead of everything has churned in a sort of hustle culture that leads to stress and burnout at the end. Hence, taking little break from work life and focusing on personal life becomes all the more important. And friends play a major role and helping to relieve that stress. Humans are inherently social creatures, and going out with friends, sleepovers, trips, and phone calls with these friends is a part of it, Dr Mona Gujral, Chief Psychologist, coto believes so. Speaking exclusively with India.com Dr. Gujral says, “It has a positive impact on our mental health, social well-being and overall personality, helping us become empathetic, kind and passionate beings.”
Additionally, it lessens loneliness and boredom and gives us a sense of social acceptability and belonging. It also relieves stress and facilitates taking a vacation from the daily grind. Friends are the people with whom we can enjoy ourselves and be ourselves without worrying about being judged. It makes life more meaningful and brings us camaraderie, adds Kapoor.
But how does this positive impact actually happen? When out with friends, we take part in conversations and discussions, providing us with a safe space to voice our thoughts and express our feelings. This cathartic experience allows us to release stress and tension, becoming calmer and happier human beings overall. These friends act as our unpaid therapists, too! These friends have known us for years and help us see multiple perspectives of the situation.
“Additionally, group outings and activities, especially trips, allow us to really put our social skills to test. Being with the same set of friends in a completely different environment brings us one step closer to understanding our personality and tolerance levels, improve teamwork and acquire new skills! It also helps us release stress as we are relaxed and rejuvenated when we meet friends,” Dr. Gujral adds.
However, if one is in a severe emotional crisis or is going through something serious, just talking to a friend or spending time with them may not help – this is the time one should think about seeking therapy and talking to a professional either in-person. This is not all – a group of friends can also get together to join these live sessions and ask their questions, get consultations and maybe even talk to each other about the things that might be bothering them (but they hesitate to speak), with the understanding that the therapist answering their questions is here to help them strengthen their bonds.
Therefore, cherish bonds, long distance or not, spending quality time with friends every now and then is good for your mental health!