The number of people with various mental disorders in the world in hundreds of millions. Every fifth adult has at least once what it is like to live when one’s own psyche fails.
According to World Health Organization, mental health is not just the absence of mental disorders: “It is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with stressful situations in life, realize their potential, succeed in learning and working, and contribute to society.”
Many people find it difficult to understand why a psychotherapist is needed. Normal people have friends, you need to have a heart-to-heart talk with them, and then gather your strength – and all the problems will go away. And all this psychotherapy is a way to pump out money, this did not happen before and there were no depressions either.
One cannot but agree that in the past people 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 and now. A justified desire, which psychotherapy can help to realize.
Who is a psychotherapist?
A brief reference to avoid confusion about who is considered a psychotherapist and who is not.
A psychologist is a person with a higher specialized education, the diploma says “psychologist”. After special training – “clinical psychologist”. All other names ( gestalt psychologist , art therapist, etc.) indicate only what methods he uses. A psychologist helps to find a way out of difficult situations, to work through problems. But he does not treat mental disorders and diseases, he consults healthy people.
A psychiatrist is a person with a higher medical education, a specialist in the field of psychiatry. He treats people with severe mental disorders, usually in a hospital, mainly with pills and procedures.
A psychotherapist is a psychiatrist who has undergone additional training. They can prescribe medications, provide counseling, and treat with various psychotherapeutic methods.
A psychotherapist is needed both for the rehabilitation of patients with serious illnesses and for the treatment of disorders that in one way or another interfere with living, working, building relationships and being creative. In general, psychotherapy improves the quality of life.
When is it time to make an appointment?
Mental disorders rarely appear out of the blue; symptoms usually become progressively more severe. The following should alert you:
- The character has changed. The person becomes withdrawn, loses interest in things, does not communicate with people who were important before.
- Faith in one’s own strength is disappearing, so much so that one doesn’t even want to start something, because one is sure of failure.
- I constantly feel tired, I want to either sleep or do nothing.
- The reluctance to move is so strong that even simple actions (taking a shower, throwing out the trash) turn into a daily task.
- There are strange sensations in the body. Not pain, but just something completely indescribable or very strange.
- The mood quickly changes without apparent reason from wild joy to complete despondency.
- Unexpected emotional reactions appear: tears when watching a comedy, despondency in response to “Hi, how are you?”
- Aggression and irritability are often present.
- Sleep is disturbed: insomnia or constant drowsiness sets in.
- Panic attacks are rolling in.
- Eating behavior changes: noticeable systematic overeating or refusal to eat.
- It’s hard to concentrate, study, or do anything.
- Obsessive repetitive actions and habits have appeared or become more frequent.
- You want to harm yourself (or it is noticeable that the person is hurting themselves: there are minor burns, scratches, cuts on the body).
- Thoughts of suicide appear.
These are not all the approximate symptoms that signal difficulties in the functioning of the psyche.
The main criterion: if something is preventing you from living and reminds you of itself every day, go to the doctor.
If you notice any symptoms in a loved one or a friend, offer help. Do not scold the person or laugh at them, do not force them to get treatment. Tell them what is bothering you and ask how you can help. Find helplines or addresses of specialists so that the person can contact them.
When you don’t need to sign up
If you are in a bad mood because of the nasty weather, if you got a bad grade, you were fired or you had a fight with your loved one, you don’t need a therapist. All this can be solved with a few days of rest, that same conversation with loved ones and a cup of hot chocolate or watching a football match.
If you have experienced severe stress , grief, cannot resolve a conflict that has been going on for a long time, and you really need to understand your feelings in order to understand what to do next, then you need to see a psychologist.
However, if you are afraid that all these situations will have a bad effect on your life and decide to see a psychotherapist, it won’t be any worse. The doctor will help you himself or refer you to the same psychologist (or to a psychiatrist, if it turns out that your illness is more serious than expected).
What to do before going to a psychotherapist
Many symptoms that signal mental disorders do not always appear due to mental problems. General weakness, chronic fatigue, irritability , insomnia and depression can appear with common diseases that are not related to mental health. Therefore, before visiting a psychotherapist, you need to make sure that you are physically healthy.
No one is stopping you from visiting a psychotherapist and examining your physical condition at the same time.
How to check your health when nothing hurts, but in general something is wrong:
- Contact your therapist and undergo basic tests.
- Undergo mandatory examinations .
- If you have a chronic disease, visit a specialist and check if it is getting worse.
- Visit an endocrinologist . Many symptoms of mental disorders are associated with endocrine system disorders.
But don’t get carried away. Many patients spend years looking for the cause of sudden attacks of rapid heartbeat or suffer from insomnia before they admit that the psyche is to blame.