Author: Clyde Barrett

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So what is mental health therapy? It is a series of treatments aimed at relieving or curing a mental disorder. Therapy is done to create strategies and techniques to handle emotions that an individual cannot control.

Primarily, the goal of therapy is to help people tackle their daily personal challenges and teach them how to live their lives the best way they can with or without an existing mental illness. Several mental health conditions can be treated, but not all mental health conditions are treatable. And for these illnesses that can’t be cured, therapy teaches patients to best live with these specific illnesses.

Benefits Of Mental Health Therapy

Many people experience hard times, and they have difficulty managing their sadness, depression, grief, or whatever emotion they are feeling depending on their unpleasant experience. Every person surely had one or two tough situations in their life that have tested their emotional and mental state. Here’s a list of the common benefits of therapy.

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Spiritual issues
• Health conditions
• PTSD
• Family problems
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Relationship issues

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Types of Mental Health Therapy

There are different kinds of therapy available across different countries. Obviously, there isn’t a single universal therapy that cures all illnesses, which is why therapies have been classified depending on how effective they are for their patients.

Individual Therapy. It is therapy where only two people are involved – the patient and the therapist. It is also known as counseling, psychotherapy, or talk therapy. Individual therapy typically occurs in a private clinic, but it may also take place in a mental health center, school, hospital, through phone, or even via chat or videoconference. Whichever way it is done, it is vital that the patient feels secure and comfortable. The patient must be able to trust his therapist so that sessions are smooth and effective.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. CBT is composed of two categories – behavioral and cognitive. The former is aimed at shifting the negative behavioral patterns to positive ones, while the latter works to instill positivity in the patients’ thoughts and life in general. CBT is the therapy of choice for patients with depression, multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, and eating disorders. Most patients report that anxiety supplements and medications only help smoothen their mood, but it’s therapy that really helps solve their issues.

Couples Therapy. It is generally focused on relationship problems and how to manage difficult situations that couples face. Rather than concentrating on the things that don’t work between partners, couples therapy or marriage counseling, also centers on how the strengths of both partners can save their relationship.

Group Therapy. Here, two or more people join the therapy sessions, which are also handled by one or more therapists. Group therapy can benefit those with eating disorders, substance abuse, and anger issues. People who want to move in a better direction in their lives and those who wish to improve their personality can also benefit from group therapy, although a general requirement would be that one must be willing to talk openly about their problems. Getting angry is good for mental health so they might even encourage you that in group therapy.

Family Therapy. Family members are frequently the people who can help a patient recover, or sometimes the misunderstanding between them worsens their illnesses.

Animal Therapy. Animals have been seen as potential helpers in nursing homes and other medical facilities, and animal therapy combines a more structure system that centers on rehabilitation. It is geared towards assisting a patient in improving his emotional, social, and mental well-being. Dogs are the most common choice, but farm and marine animals have also been recently considered. The main reason why positive results have been seen with animal therapy is that people tend to relax and feel safe and comfortable around animals.

Online therapy is also an option like the BetterHelp platform. If you are looking for an app that offers you online counseling with therapists and counselors who are good at what they do well, BetterHelp is one click away. BetterHelp is a website that offers you accessible counseling and convenient sessions.

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Therapy As The Best Solution

For a lot of patients and individuals with loved ones suffering from mental disorders, therapy might be the best choice to help overcome a mental health condition. In some cases, though, it may not be sufficient, and it is done in conjunction with prescribed medicines.

The bottom line is that the patient must be comfortable enough to trust and talk to his therapist openly. If he is unable to do so, then his problems will not truly be resolved.

Life is a series of transitions. Childhood is full of them, and adulthood is marked by many of its own—going from living at home to living on your own, from student to professional, from single to married, from nonparent to parent, and many others. —  Sarah Noel, MS, LMHC

Getting pregnant at a young age is not ideal, especially if the father of your child is not willing to own up to your mistake. Unfortunately, you may become a single mom in an instant. When this happens, your mental health will start to deteriorate, as you will begin to feel more anxiety and stress. At the same time, there is also a chance that you will suffer from depression. Everything may feel wrong in your life to the point that you would want to run away from your family or even think of suicide.

In this article, we are going to help you deal with your current situation of becoming a teenage mom. Take note that just because you made a mistake in the past does not mean that you can already neglect yourself. Always remember that what you had may be an unfortunate event, but it is not a bad life. There are better ways on how you can handle everything that life throws at you. Below are some of the smart tips that also recommends when it comes to improving your mental health during the first few years of becoming a new teenager mom:

Forgive Yourself

The only way to move to better tomorrows is to choose to forgive yourself for what happened. Stop blaming your actions that led to your present dilemma. Remember that these mistakes happened to teach you a lesson. Do not allow it to hold you back from moving forward to the kind of life that you and your newborn child deserve. Learn how to forgive yourself so that you can release all the negative emotions that you feel. In so doing, you will feel relief. Stop thinking about how you got pregnant at an early stage and instead focus on what you can do to improve your life.

Reach Out To Your Mom

Did you know that the first person you need to call in a situation like this is your mom? As much as possible, maintain a good relationship with your mother because she is the only one who can provide you everlasting and unconditional love. Through her, you will begin to see the proper ways of how to take care of your child while not forgetting about yourself. Your mom’s presence in your life right now can help a lot in keeping you happy and sane. Do not hesitate to ask her for questions or inquiries about how to be a good mom.

Connecting with the mom who has a wry sense of humor about her kids, her parenting, and her partner is like getting a gift. Someone who’s willing to whisper at the dance recital that her daughter is completely out of step can make us feel that she’ll be much more accommodating of our mistakes. —  Vicki Botnick, MA, MS, MFTI

Eat Healthily

Now that you have just given birth to your child, it is imperative on your part to be extra careful about what you consume. Take note that this rule is essential if your newborn baby has a medical condition. As such, you have to begin following a balanced diet. Keep in mind it does not mean skipping meals to stay fit. Remember that being skinny is not healthy at all. What is important is for you to start eating healthy so that you can develop more energy to get ready for the day. It will improve not only your physical strength but also your mental health. Read further in BabyCenter.

Find A Support Group

No matter what happens, never forget the significance of having someone whom you can open up to about your problems and concerns. As already mentioned above, most of your days may be filled with grief and sorrow. Remember that the best way to deal with this is to let your feelings out. Find a set of friends whom you can trust and be comfortable to discuss your emotions. Even the simple act of addressing what triggers your feelings can already be therapeutic on your part. Otherwise, you may end up feeling insane for all the wrong things that are happening in your life.

An online support system would be best. BetterHelp is that support system you can trust. BetterHelp is an app that gives access to therapy and counseling at the tip of your fingers.

Motherhood, like life, is full of duality. The easy and hard, light and dark, personal and communal. — Shonda Moralis MSW, LCSW

Conclusion

Now that you are aware of the ways on how to improve your mental health during your first few years of being a teenage mom, be sure to follow them by heart. Never let any person or something bring you down. Remember that you must always find a way to take good care of your mental health so that you can become a better mother to your child. Remind yourself that age is just a number and you can always be ready for anything in your life.

Before we even start with this topic, it is essential to understand that not all family is healthy and happy. A lot of people assume that a unit is always exciting and full of happiness, but they are not. It means a lot of things need improvement so each member can work on accepting the fact that some families experience tons of stressful situations. In coming to terms of what “family” means for you, everything depends on how you look at it. If you think it’s just about blood relation, then it’s not like that.

Unfortunately the toxicity of bad relationships very often outlasts the relationship itself, like a “gift that keeps on giving” (in the worst of ways) long after the relationship is over. — SETH J. GILLIHAN, PHD

The Considerations You Need To Take

The first thing that you need to consider when it comes to family toxicity is identifying where your boundaries get crossed. There’s a need in knowing how that particular action affects you or how does it feel when it happens. To set out an example; people feel angry when their boundary appears crossed. Some may even withdraw and form barriers in an instant. Others feel incredibly depressed and anxious as well. Most people feel uncomfortable but can’t explain the reason why. These are all the things you also need to figure out for yourself with regards to addressing personal limitations. By structuring it out, it will let you know where your boundaries need to be.

Another thing that you need to evaluate is how pretending that a family member’s behavior is not a big deal. It only ends up with continuous actions of hurting you. You need to know how to detect mixed signals because if you keep ignoring their bad behavior, they think that their acts are something that is okay with you. It eventually ends up repeating the harmful things over and over again. From there, it pushes a reasonable boundary that somehow doesn’t apply to you at all. It allows family members to have more room to become the individuals you wouldn’t want to stay in your life.

Chasing natural phenomena around the world is a terribly dramatic way to deal with the conflicting emotions that so many women experience. But it was a move in alignment with who I’ve always been and what I’ve always done, though it wasn’t in alignment with what I thought society expected me to do.— Shonda Moralis MSW, LCSW

Things You Can Do In Achieving Healthy Boundaries

You may think that when it comes to a family relation, everything is always okay. However, there are instances that you need to handle them indifferently. Allow yourself to have permission to disregard a relationship with them if you know you have to. It is essential to talk about resolutions that can end up cutting family members off. Because if that’s the only way you can keep your peace and sanity intact, do it and cut them off your life. Toxic people are still toxic no matter what their relation to you. These individuals are not healthy for your well-being. The more they make you mad, sad, and depressed, the unhealthier you get. It puts a terrible impact on your emotional, behavioral, and psychological aspects. Yes, you may feel worried about becoming a bad person, but it’s not about that. Everything that matters is your overall health that your family members are trying to damage.

Identifying Toxic People

Before you conclude how family members can become toxic, consider this thing. Toxic people are not entirely bad people to everybody. Sometimes, some of them are okay and good with others. It depends on the cultivated attachment that people form with different individuals. Maybe it is all because of factors such as clashing personalities and different opinions in life. It doesn’t mean that you or a family member is not a good influence. Sometimes, it just means that the particular relationship you have with them and they have with you is not healthy that’s why you need to get out of it. But if cutting them in your life is not your best option, then work harder to get that kind of relationship that makes you both healthy.

Understand that toxic people thrive on passive aggression. Sometimes, instead of directly communicating with you, they do it in an off-handed way where you misinterpret what they are trying to imply. The action leads you to become more upset because you end up over-hearing an issue differently. The only thing you can do with that behavior is to call out on them. Have a conversation where you can sit and speak with them and expect a response. You may not like the process at the beginning, but the continued discussion eventually allows a possible resolution useful in the relationship. Use your chance to express yourself and tell family members how their actions affect you.

Keep in mind there are two things that are inevitable in a conflict: 1.) someone isn’t listening, and 2.) someone isn’t being heard or both. — Clayton Lessor, PhD, LPC

The overall lesson that you may find in this article is the motivation to either cut family members in your life for good or do something to work things out. If you can determine the factors that can excuse toxic people from hurting you, it’s up to your judgment. But if everything gets worst and the situation locks you in an unhealthy atmosphere, go on and let go of these people.

You can also avail of services provided by BetterHelp for additional mental health support. It’s basically an online therapist that is affordable but the quality of service never runs cheap. You can hear from their doctors and other staff but if you’re still not convinced, BetterHelp has partnered with different specialists to best suit your needs.

Dissociative amnesia is a disorder that blocks out significant information from a person’s subconscious. The condition is usually caused by a traumatic event or experience in life. It could be from emotional abuse, physical damage, or mental torture. It leaves the person with no recollection of some (or all) essential things or events in his or her life.

Memory systems cannot integrate the information so it floats around and issues into waking consciousness in disconnected fragments like false stories, false memories, illusions, delusions and finally false identities. — Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

If the patient is suffering from the symptoms of dissociative amnesia, the doctor proceeds to gather the medical history. But if there are no alarming physical signs of the condition, they will refer the patient to a mental health expert for the clinical interview. In the medical field, the disease is commonly caused by overwhelming physiological stress. The stress is usually from a significant traumatic event such as abuse, violence, and natural disaster. However, genetics also play a role as well. It is most common in women than in men and affects almost 3.6% of the general population.

The Different Types Of Dissociative Amnesia

1. Generalized Amnesia – It is a condition where a person is incapable of remembering partial information. Usually, it is caused by phenomena of psychogenic origins. Fortunately, it is one of most common types that eventually get treated with therapy and medication. The psychological condition requires spontaneous recovery in a comparatively short period.
2. Localized Amnesia – It is the type of amnesia that affects a person’s knowledge. It sometimes makes a person lose his ability to speak, read, and walk. In some unfortunate events, it hits the person’s overall skills as well as give him the confusion of who he was or where he’s at. Localized amnesia is said to cause anxiety and depression due to the scattered details of memory that the brain forces to recover.
3. Fugue Amnesia – It a type of amnesia that makes a person adopts a new identity. In some unfortunate events, the condition shuts down the brain’s active memory to make a person forget about his past and other essential personal information. From there, the mixture of different emotions, behaviors, and mental approach varies widely on the person’s capability to recall.

Don’t try to just shove your feelings down because that just doesn’t work long-term. — Melanie Greenberg Ph.D.

Other Types Of Amnesia

• Retrograde Amnesia – The condition is far worse compared to the different types of amnesia. It is where a person is incapable of remembering anything from the past. Though this type of amnesia is sometimes temporary, the recovery takes an extended period due to the brain’s dysfunctional attributes. This condition is merely caused by emotional trauma, brain damage, and extreme head injury.
• Anterograde Amnesia – Unlike retrograde, anterograde amnesia differs because of the ability to contain bits of memories from a particular event. Though this condition can able to recall pre-existing long-term memories, it is not capable of constructing new long-term explicit ones. Meaning, even if there’s a repetitive everyday experience, the person won’t recall the recent ones.

Anterograde amnesia is typically caused by some kind of brain damage, most often to the hippocampus region (a portion of the brain at least partially responsible for the storage of memory). — Wind Goodfriend Ph.D.

Dissociative amnesia still contains memory. However, it is buried deep in a person’s mind that they experience problems in retrieving them. The good thing is, memories can comeback suddenly by the use of therapy or by the help of triggering factors from the environment.

Have you finally seen the light and realized that substance abuse wouldn’t do anything significant for you and your family?

That is superb because not every individual who has an addiction is willing to alter their ways for the better. However, let’s face the truth that staying away from addictive stuff is much harder than sticking to them. The temptations are in high quantities; even your system may start looking for it in the first few months.

Relapse is a process with identifiable signs and symptoms that occur over a period of days, weeks, or months, not a matter of hours or minutes. The goal is to identify your signs and to train others to recognize them so they can help you interrupt them. — Cyndi Turner, LCSW, LSATP, MAC

The thing is, it isn’t just you. Others experience it, yet more and more of them choose to remain sober. In case you want to succeed in that too, find out what you should do to avoid a relapse.

Continue reading “What You Should Do To Avoid A Relapse”