Alternative Treatments for Mental Illness?

At the bare minimum talk therapy is required. Even though I strongly recommend being treated with medicine, you should ask a doctor about different therapy treatments. Cognitive behavioral may be good for a lot of people, but depending on your mental health issue it would be worth it to branch out. Some of them can be very intense and ask you to put in more work to learning how to cope better with traumas. Check psychology today for their list of therapies and read about them to see which one speaks to you

Therapy, mindfulness meditation, massage therapy, hot baths with essential oils, and workbooks/self help books

Therapy is definitely a big help for me, but I also find that mindfulness exercises and having a routine in general are helpful. I use a self care app called Finch for keeping my to do list, breathing exercises, etc. Then I do short meditations pretty often. Finding grounding exercises for in public (5-4-3-2-1 is my go to as well as box/square breathing) I also did a round of TMS (mostly used for my depression but it helped some people’s anxiety including mine)

I completely agree I’ve been lucky to find my therapist. She is good

Talk therapy is a must

therapy has been the most helpful to me. learning to control the "bad thoughts" has been a lifesaver right alongside the medication.