If you’re struggling with a diagnosis of mental illness or you’re dealing with daily life stressors or relationships issues as well as another emotional or mental health problem, deciding to go to therapy may be essential to ensure improving your mental health and well-being.
How Is Therapy for Mental Health?
Therapy is a broad term that refers to mental health treatment that consists in speaking with a psychiatrist, psychologist, or any other mental health provider.
Therapy for mental and emotional well-being is a secure, supportive space that allows you to talk openly with a mental health practitioner who is impartial, non-biased, and non-judgmental. While most therapy centers on individuals, it might also involve working with families, couples, or groups.
What are the different Types of Mental Health Therapy?
Mental health professionals employ an array of research-based methods and treatments they’re certified to apply to their patients. Some are more effective than others when it comes to the treatment of specific disorders or conditions as well as, in the majority of instances, therapists will use several techniques.
The most common approaches backed by research you’ll come across may include:
- Psychotherapy with supportThis is one of the most frequent types of talk therapy clinicians employ. The goal of this therapy is to alleviate emotions and symptoms insisting on reassurance, reeducation counseling, and encouragement for desired behavior.
- Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) CBT is an established type of therapy that focuses on helping people become aware of negative or inaccurate thinking to help you see difficult situations with greater clarity and respond to the challenges in a better way. Many times, they will assign their clients homework after sessions to work on their behavior or ways of thinking about what they are struggling with.
- Psychodynamic psychotherapyIn psychodynamic therapy, Psychologist as well as clients share their thoughts about negative habits of behaviour and feelings that are rooted in the past experiences with the intention of addressing them. Your Psychologist is helping you realize what your subconscious thoughts are doing to you and impacting your thoughts and behavior.
- DBT is a form of dialectical therapy. (DBT)DBT is heavily inspired by CBT, with a few distinct differences. CBT emphasizes understanding the link between thoughts, feelings and behavior, whereas DBT concentrates on dealing with distressing or uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. It also puts more the emphasis on changing behaviors or developing the ability to change negative patterns of behavior.
- exposure therapyExposure therapy is an additional subset of CBT. It’s used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, and phobias, for example, fear of leaving home, or fear of flying. When in treatment it is a process of working using a Psychologist identify their triggers . They learn strategies to conquer their anxieties through gradual exposure to these triggers in a controlled , controlled environment.
- Mindfulness-based therapy (MBT)MBT helps patients identify their thoughts and feelings, bodily sensations and surroundings with the goal of becoming aware, open, curious, accepting, and understanding.
- Eye motion desensitization and processing therapy (EMDR)EMDR is used to treat PTSD, with research suggesting it is able to significantly decrease anxiety that is caused by traumatic memories.
- Family or couples therapyFamily therapy is one type of counseling that assists families improve communication and resolve conflict. It’s usually brief-term, delivered by a psychologist, a clinical social worker, or licensed therapist.
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)TMS is a non-invasive procedure that utilizes electrical fields in order to trigger nerve cells within the brain. This can help improve effects of depression.
Does therapy work? Here’s what the science says.
Research suggests that talk therapy to improve emotional and mental health could assist in a major way.
Through an analysis of 270 studies that considered whether psychotherapy is effective for patients suffering from depression Researchers found that it did work and, in some instances, more than other forms of treatment.
Another major meta-analysis on psychodynamic therapy showed that over the long term, this type of therapy helped people who suffer from depression also those suffering from social anxiety and social phobias.
What Do I do to Know If I Need Therapy?
For starters, therapy is employed to treat mental health problems, including:
- Anxiety disorders like PTSD, OCD and phobias. They can also be a trigger for panic disorder
- Mood disorders, such as depression or bipolar disorder
- Addiction, alcohol dependence disorder, other substance use disorders, as well as gambling disorder
- Food-related disorders, such as orexia or bulimia
- Personality disorders, like borderline personality disorder
- Schizophrenia along with other disorders that cause separation from reality
However, you don’t require an mental health diagnosis to seek out therapy and seeking out therapy doesn’t mean that you have an illness or disorder.
Other than mental illness, other reasons for seeking therapy include:
- A chronic illness, death or bereavement in the family
- Issues with finances, job losses or issues in the workplace
- Stress from relationships, like trying to make a relationship work, taking care of younger children or parents who are aging and managing friends
- Everyday stresses that are taking over you or throwing your life out of balance
- Recovering from the trauma of sexual or physical abuse or witnessing violence or the trauma of an event
- Cope with sexual difficulties It doesn’t matter if they’re due to physical or psychological reasons
Anyone who seeks out therapy could find they:
- You will feel more confident in the face of obstacles
- Change the behavior that is holding them back
- Take a look at the ways in which they think that affect their feelings or behave
- Let go of any pain from the past
- Develop relationships
- Figure out the goals
- Strengthen their self-confidence
- It is better to manage strong emotions like fear, grief, or anger
- Develop their problem-solving capabilities
Therapy can be helpful for anyone who feels that they’re struggling through life’s challenges on their own, Linde says. Therapy may be a suitable first step if your emotional problems or problems are interfering greatly (and frequently) in the daily routines of tasks, like school, work, or household responsibilities. Find the best suited Psychologist for you in Texas, Georgetown.