Dealing with Anxiety, OCD, or Depression? Go Team Functioning!
- nbiweston
- Dec 27, 2023
- 2 min read
Jonathan Hoffman, PhD, ABPP
“Don’t tell me how you feel. Tell me how you function.”
This is one of many celebrated quotes from Dr. Abraham Low, the psychiatrist who in 1937 founded Recovery, a still active self-help movement for people with mental health challenges.
However, this may be an idea that is still ahead of its time. Indeed, the social message trending today often appears reversed, more like: “Don’t tell me how you function. Tell me how you feel.”
Let us be clear. Nobody’s feelings are invalid, not real, or unimportant. Quite the opposite, in fact. Feelings are valid, authentic experiences and important to acknowledge.
But when it comes to navigating mental health treatment, being on ‘Team Feelings’ is not recommended:
People who are depressed need to engage in life and focus on the positive. But depressed feelings often chart a path toward withdrawing to a lonely island, as well as looking at life in the most negatively skewed ways possible.
Anxious feelings put one’s body and mind on the road to avoidance and responding to ‘false alarms” of danger. Yet, treating anxiety and OCD psychologically calls for taking opposite actions to fears – like speaking in public or not engaging in excessive checking, reassurance-seeking, or handwashing.
It often feels right for parents and other family members of people with mental health conditions to focus more on supporting how a loved one is feeling than on how they are functioning. However, since feelings are completely subjective, using them for ‘treatment GPS’ can make patients and their loved ones believe they are going in the right direction when they are way off course.
If you are someone impacted by mental health challenges that somehow has wound up on 'Team Feelings,' it is never too soon or too late to change direction and join ‘Team Functioning.’ There is an excellent chance that one day your feelings will thank you for making this decision!
This post really highlights an important shift in how we should approach healing. Focusing on functioning over feelings can truly change outcomes, especially when managing conditions like anxiety or OCD. It’s the same principle we follow at our ADAS Calibration Shop—functionality comes first. Accurate performance matters, whether it’s mental health or vehicle safety systems.
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This post really highlights the importance of prioritizing action over emotion in mental health recovery. It reminds me how essential it is to stay engaged and keep moving forward—something I also see in my work as a Houston commercial real estate agent, where progress often hinges on function, not just feeling. Great perspective, thanks for sharing!
This was such an insightful post—thank you for sharing! Shifting from “Team Feelings” to “Team Functioning” really does create space for healing through action. I've personally seen how this mindset shift can make a difference, especially during quiet getaways like staying in Heber Springs Arkansas cabins, where nature helps support both function and reflection.
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