People often need therapy, but sometimes have a problem with it. They’ll ask themselves questions – do I really need it? How long will it take? What will my family or friends think? – and waste time in the debate instead of getting the help they need. But why do they need it?
What is psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is a universal term for handling mental health problems by talking to a psychiatrist or another mental healthcare specialist. If you’re undergoing psychotherapy, the goal is to learn about your illness and your moods, emotions, thoughts, and how you behave. Psychotherapy gives you knowledge on taking control of your life and how to react to challenging situations with healthy coping skills. It may be ongoing and combined with certain medications, like ketamine for depression.
Types of psychotherapy
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy, which aids you in recognizing unhealthy, identifying harmful beliefs and behaviors, and substituting them with positive, healthy ones.
- Acceptance and commitment therapy can help you become conscious of and accept your feelings and thoughts and dedicate yourself to implementing changes, boosting your chance of coping and adjusting to situations.
- Interpersonal psychotherapy and supportive psychotherapy, which help you deal with current relationship problems and how you deal with stress and difficult situations.
What is physical therapy?
Physical therapy (PT) is a type of care with the goal of easing pain and helping you function, move, and live a healthier lifestyle. Depending on your overall health and pain symptoms, it may be combined with psychotherapy or medicine like ketamine to help control pain symptoms. You may need PT to:
- Reduce pain
- Improve movements or ability to move
- Stop or recover from a sports-related injury
- Lower the risk of disability or surgery
- Get better following an accident, injury, stroke, or surgery
- Improve physical balance to reduce the chance of slipping or falling
- Control a chronic illness (diabetes, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis)
- Recover after childbirth
- Control bowel or bladder problems
- Adapt to using an artificial limb
- Learn how to use assistive devices, including a walker or cane
- You need a splint or brace
People of any age can benefit from physical therapy because it can help treat many health problems.
Why Do People Go to Therapy?
Day-to-day living is hard. You struggle with daily responsibilities like family, work, maintaining your social circle, and just existing. Some people under constant pressure or who’ve lived through stressful or dangerous situations can have it even worse. As a result, it’s not unusual for people to experience psychological and physical distress, which may benefit from physical or psychological therapy to improve their lives.
“In the case of persistent mental health issues, “Therapists guide people through some of the most personal and painful experiences of their lives, helping them overcome depression, live with loss, and stop self-destructive behavior (among other issues).”
Psychological therapy may provide the skills and inner strength to deal with many different mental and physical health issues.
Why go to therapy?
- There may be a physical health issue.
- If you’re noticing you have more negative moods or thought, and it’s constant, it might be worth talking to a therapist. This is usually a sign of a mental health problem.
- A significant life change has thrown you for a loop.
- Lately, you’ve been thinking of suicide or harming yourself.
- You used to love spending time with loved ones, but family movie night has become a tedious, stress-inducing chore (who picks the movie tonight?). There are just some things you don’t enjoy doing anymore, and you’ve begun isolating yourself from family and friends.
The role of stigmatization
People often find weakness in themselves if they need to see a mental health or physical therapist. Overcoming the stigma of mental illness is hard, especially for people who need treatment but don’t get it.
Types of stigmatizations
- Public stigma involves bad or discriminatory attitudes that others harbor about mental illness.
- Self-stigma is when you have negative attitudes, including internalized shame, about your own problems.
- Institutional stigma, driven by policies of private organizations and government which purposely or unintentionally restrict opportunities for someone with mental illness. How? Less funding for mental illness research and treatment compared to other health care.
Final thoughts
People worldwide often need psychological and physical therapy to help manage symptoms related to mental illness, chronic pain, or some other conditions. But needing therapy isn’t a sign of moral failure and shouldn’t be ignored. Sometimes, therapy is combined with ketamine to reduce symptoms not responsive to other treatment options.
