Mental Health Therapy And Its Benefits

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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.