What is therapy and what it is not?
Therapy is a science-backed treatment for mental health symptoms that cause significant problems in daily life. for example, Mindfulness-based stress reduction Is it because of anxiety? cognitive processing therapy For post-traumatic stress disorder. Sessions will focus on setting goals for change, developing and practicing skills to improve psychological health, and continually assessing progress toward goals and ongoing treatment needs.
Treatment involves building trust and rapport, as the therapist-patient relationship has been proven to be the most important predictor of treatment. positive change. But building this trust and rapport in therapy is not the same as him chatting for an hour about symptoms such as stress.
Treatment skeptics assert, “You’re not paying to talk to a friend.” they are correct.
Sometimes the sharing is one-sided, and the therapist is not the patient’s friend. Therapists are professionally trained. They have an ethical responsibility to help patients develop insights and build skills.
Healing is not about venting. It’s about change.
Who needs treatment and who doesn’t?
People seek treatment when their mental health symptoms significantly interfere with their daily functioning, including intimate relationships, work performance, sleep, and social activities. For example, if a person is so overwhelmed by work stress that he takes time off from work and is then at risk of losing his job.
If you are able to manage your symptoms well, meaning you continue to perform well despite stress at work, you have a supportive network of family and friends, and you participate in meaningful activities outside of work. If symptoms are not severe, no treatment is necessary. of depression and anxiety.
As Tracy Dennis Tiwary writes in her book Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even If It Feels Bad), we have become “vulnerable people” when it comes to discomfort. I am. But you don’t have to make a therapy appointment when you’re not feeling well. We need to learn how to feel and deal with emotions.
“Anxiety is, for the most part, a healthy human emotion,” Dennis Tiwary wrote in an email. “The only way to learn how to cope is to experience anxiety and develop skills to overcome it.” What can be more problematic than anxiety itself is “meta-anxiety,” or anxiety about our feelings of anxiety. , she says.
How to acquire coping skills
Therapy provides tools and support that can be helpful and make you feel better, but when you’re not suffering from “clinical” symptoms, i.e. symptoms that cause significant disruption to your daily life, those tools are and support is available outside of the therapist’s office. Here’s how to develop coping skills.
- Check out the workbooks related to your concerns. There are many science-backed interventions (the most popular are cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy) Experts have packaged it into a workbook format for people to do on their own.
- Read the memoirs of people who have experienced similar hardships. Connecting with the experiences of others reduces feelings of separation and provides models for how to cope.
- Use mental health and meditation apps You will have access to many of the basic coping tools taught by therapists, such as meditation (Calm, Insight Timer) and emotional labeling (How We Feel).
- Listen to psychology-focused podcasts like “psychology podcast” and “all in the mind” to find episode topics and experts in your area of interest, like relationship anxiety or work stress.
- Consider coaching Someone who specializes in the area you want to make a difference in, such as career or parenting. A therapist can coach, but a coach does not have to be a therapist. There is an important difference between coaching and therapy.
- Identify community groups. Support from others who are enduring similar struggles is often more effective than talking in one-on-one therapy. Examples include groups focused on addiction, grief, and meditation.
If you don’t feel better after trying these methods, or if someone close to you has expressed concern about a change in your behavior, such as becoming more withdrawn or irritable, check your symptoms. may require professional support. The clearest sign that someone needs immediate mental health treatment is having safety concerns, such as suicidal thoughts or self-harm.
Making changes to improve your life is like gardening. You need to dig in the soil, plant the seeds of change, care for the fragile new plants and flowers so they survive, provide them with water and nutrients, and remove weeds. A therapist can help if your mental health symptoms make it difficult to pick up a shovel, but most people can become their own gardeners.
Dr. Emily Edlin is a clinical psychologist and director of pediatric behavioral medicine at Oak Park Behavioral Medicine in Oak Park, Illinois. She is the author of “.Autonomy-supportive parenting: Reducing parental burnout and raising competent, confident children” co-host.Psychologists work 24 hours a day” Podcast.
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