How to understand that you should go to a therapist
'30.10.2019'
Source: Life hacker
When to contact professionals, if thoughts and feelings are not in order.
In the world, the number of patients with various mental disorders is estimated in the hundreds of millions by the WHO Newsletter. Every fifth adult at least once felt on himself what it is like to live when your own psyche fails, writes Life hacker.
“Mental health is not only about the absence of mental disorders. Mental health is a state of well-being in which a person realizes their abilities, can withstand the stress of life, work productively and contribute to their community, ”says the World Health Organization.
It is difficult for many to understand why a therapist is needed. Normal people have friends, they need to talk heart to heart, and then gather their strength and all the problems will go away. And all this psychotherapy is a way of pumping money, before this was not and there were no depressions either.
One cannot but agree with the fact that previously they somehow managed without psychotherapists. But there is a person, he has a problem, and he does not want to live “somehow, as before”, he wants to live well now. Justified desire, which psychotherapy can help realize.
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Who is a therapist
A brief reference, so as not to confuse who is considered a psychotherapist and who is not.
Psychologist - This is a person with a higher specialized education, the diploma says "psychologist." After special training - a "clinical psychologist." All other names (gestalt psychologist, art therapist and others) indicate only what methods he uses. The psychologist helps to find a way out of difficult situations, to work out problems. But he does not cure mental disorders and diseases, he advises healthy people.
Psychiatrist - This is a person with a higher medical education, a specialist in the field of psychiatry. It treats people with severe mental disorders, usually in a hospital, mainly with pills and procedures.
Psychotherapist - This is a psychiatrist who has undergone additional training. He can prescribe drugs, consult and treat with various methods of psychotherapy.
A psychotherapist is needed both for the rehabilitation of patients with serious diseases, and for the treatment of disorders that in one way or another interfere with life, work, build relationships and engage in creativity. In general, psychotherapy improves the quality of life.
When is the time to make an appointment
Mental disorders rarely occur for no reason. As a rule, the symptoms gradually become stronger. The following should alert:
- The character has changed. A person becomes closed, loses interest in business, does not communicate with people who were previously important.
- Belief in one's own strength is leaving, and so much that one does not even want to start something, because he is confident in failure.
Fatigue is constantly felt, I want to either sleep or do nothing. - Unwillingness to move is so strong that even simple actions (take a shower, throw out garbage) turn into a task for the day.
- There are strange sensations in the body. Not pain, but just something completely indescribable or very strange.
- The mood quickly changes for no apparent reason from wild joy to complete gloom.
- Unexpected emotional reactions appear: tears when watching a comedy, despondency in response to "Hello, how are you?"
- Often there is aggression and irritability.
- Sleep is disturbed: insomnia or constant drowsiness comes.
- Panic attacks.
- Eating behavior changes: noticeably systematic overeating or refusal of food.
- It is difficult to concentrate, study, do business.
- Obsessive repetitive actions, habits have appeared or become more frequent.
- I want to hurt myself (or noticeably that a person hurts himself: small burns, scratches, cuts on the body).
- Thoughts about suicide appear.
These are not all exemplary symptoms that signal difficulties in the psyche.
The main criterion: if something prevents you from living and every day reminds you of yourself, go to the doctor.
If you notice any symptoms in a loved one or friend, offer help. Do not scold or laugh at the person, do not force to be treated. Say what is bothering you and ask how you can help. Find the helplines or addresses of specialists so that a person can contact them.
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When not to record
If you are in a bad mood due to bad weather, if you get a bad rating, you were fired, or you had a fight with a loved one, a therapist is not needed. All this is decided by several days of rest, the very conversation with loved ones and a cup of hot chocolate or watching a football match.
If you have experienced severe stress, grief, you cannot solve a conflict that lasts a long time, and you really need to understand your feelings in order to understand what to do next, then you need a psychologist.
However, if you are afraid that all these situations will affect your life badly and decide to turn to a psychotherapist, it will not be worse. The doctor will help himself or refer you to the same psychologist (or to a psychiatrist, if it turns out that your disease is more serious than expected).
What to do before going to the therapist
Many symptoms that signal mental disorders do not always appear due to malfunctions in the psyche. General weakness, chronic fatigue, irritability, insomnia and depression can occur in ordinary diseases, not related to mental health. Therefore, before you visit a therapist, you need to make sure that you are physically healthy.
No one bothers visiting a therapist and examining a physical condition at the same time.
How to check your health when nothing hurts, but in general, something is wrong:
- Contact the therapist and pass the basic tests, undergo a general examination.
- If there is a chronic disease, go to an appointment with a specialist and check for an exacerbation.
- Visit an endocrinologist. Many symptoms of mental illness are associated with disorders of the endocrine system.
But don't get carried away. Patients often seek for years the cause of sudden attacks of a frantic heartbeat or suffer from insomnia before they admit that the psyche is to blame.
