All the mental illnesses plus their symptoms can be touched on however I'm going to focus mainly on depression because it is hands down the worst of symptoms/diseases plus I've got years and years - decades of experience here.
Ok so if your mood has been uncomfortably depressed ( that is your mood so low that you don't take any pleasure in life plus a feeling of hopelessness//helplessness - also what I like to call care-lessness (which doesn't actually mean you don't care but your body doesn't even provide things to you that you might care about but one is sooo anguished they fail to even notice it so how can one care about what doesn't even enter their conscious brain?)) In such a way gardens get overgrown, the house becomes a mess, bills don't get paid,one either cringes at eating or eats to try to fill up that hole in themselves that desires being filled up ending up over-doing it. Sleep can be in the way of 12-16 hours or conversely insomnia. Anyway if one has been constantly suffering depression 3 or more weeks in a row it has been shown that one needs meds to turn it around because in 21 days your brain creates habits (maps) that are hard to break minus a major life event or medication.
I did a few things that worked remarkably well. First I noticed that when ill I DID treat myself more kindly, was more gentle with myself, so I started by copying that behavior/mindset all the time as a practice. If I found that I had stopped being kind to myself I tried to change that thinking right away and focus back on pretending I was under the weather. Then I stepped that up to any criticism my mind would come up with like I am a failure, my life is meaningless, I am only a trouble to friends and family (they wouldn't agree with that assessment but rather point out I am generous - too generous in their minds - kind, helpful, etc) so think instead what would my mom or my sis or my bff would say to me if they heard what my mind was insisting is true but knowing my perceptions are altered I tried to use what they would think and say about me not what my head did. This takes practice and time and patience and perseverance as habitual thinking is not easy to change but it most certainly can be. Then I came upon brain mapping and realized I was already doing that but it made it even more clear in that i need just change my internal dialogue to one that loves me - to one who is a best friend to herself.
Also I made it a daily practice to list the things I am grateful for regardless I am FEELING grateful or not. And finally always reminding myself that Everything IS Temporary - that is the nature of reality and it can be counted on - not only do happy times end but unhappy times end as well (maybe not as quickly as we would like but end they do - I promise!!)
So brain mapping to learn to love yourself (I can actually look in the mirror and smile at what I see staring back whereas for many decades I saw only ugliness in the mirror so actively avoided looking in them}. But now I see I am cute as a button and not unattractive and I basically love myself now which has been the biggest gift I have ever given myself - I can even hug myself and mean it and not feel silly - I know for some that seems an impossibility but you CAN learn to love yourself and it is well worth your time, energy and hard work. Also I worked with a biofeedback specialist and that helped greatly because she taught me to listen to my body (something I still very much have difficulty with and so would love to go back for more but she is on the other side of the country to me now).
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