It’s never easy admitting to oneself that they’re suffering from psychological disturbances, let alone helping themselves get through it. While some people tend to say that mental illnesses are only products of one’s mind, it’s important to know that these conditions are real and could pose significant impacts on one’s overall health and well-being.
Likewise, it might be traumatizing for people with mental health illnesses to experience discrimination from other people. Fortunately, many people are now promoting the normalization of mental health issues and the proper measures to deal with them.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of mental disturbances, it would be better to seek professional help. For instance, you can consider undergoing certain forms of treatments from facilities like Insight Northwest Counseling and other similar types of professional counseling services.
Things To Know About Mental Health Counseling
With many factors that could affect one’s mental health, it’s no wonder that the number of people suffering from mental health issues continue to rise over the past decades. These factors may include childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, unpleasant experiences, social isolation, discrimination, social disadvantage, and many other aspects.
While it’s well established that mental health problems aren’t easy to manage, there are numerous ways you can do to get through the situation, including seeking professional help and undergoing counseling sessions. Particularly, psychotherapy is among the most popular alternatives for people with mental health issues.
To help you more, here are some important pieces of information you need to know about it:
- Otherwise known as talking therapy or mental health counseling, psychotherapy is one of the most efficient and reliable alternatives you can consider for your mental health problems.
- Although there are plenty of available options you can consider for your condition, mental health counseling could be the best option for treating symptoms of psychological disturbances and mental disorders. Particularly, it’s been said to help people cope with emotional difficulties, mental health concerns, and life challenges.
- Apart from that, counseling could also help people manage the occurrence of trauma memories, which may not be easily dealt with by other types of treatments and medications.
- In most cases, many experts believe that the impacts of counseling and therapy may last longer than medications, as they probe deeper about the underlying factors that cause the condition.
- Counselors, on the other hand, are the ones that perform mental health counseling or therapies to patients or clients. They may help address the situation and tailor specialized interventions for their condition.
- Despite its advantages, many people are still unable to seek professional help for their mental health concerns due to various reasons. Consequently, it may lead to poor work or school performances, relationship instability, increased risks of health issues, hospitalization, and in worst cases, suicide.
- A study shows that the female population is more at risk of mental illness. In addition, suicide is the second leading cause of death in many countries.
When To Seek Mental Health Counseling
As mentioned earlier, numerous reasons hinder people from seeking professional help when it comes to mental health concerns. One huge factor is that most people simply don’t know when to seek professional help. Hence, it’s important to know the signs on when one should start seeking a professional counselor, psychologist, therapist, or psychiatrist. Read on below to know what these signs are:
1. Emotional Distress
One of the most common symptoms of mental health disorders is an extreme feeling of hopelessness. Although it’s common for people to feel demotivated at times, losing motivation for your future and lacking the will to move forward isn’t normal.
In terms of day-to-day function, patients may experience a drastic decrease in their energy, may have recurrent thoughts about suicide or self-harm, may feel overwhelmed with sudden life changes, have difficulties coping with their situation, and may find no pleasure in activities they used to love. Aside from that, they may also exhibit irritability, sadness, and melancholy.
2. Psychological Disturbances
Aside from emotional distress, other symptoms that you must know include psychological disturbances. In many cases, poor mental health often influences people to isolate themselves, avoid relationships with other people, and withdraw from their loved ones.
People struggling with psychological disturbances may also experience the following:
- Fatigue: Extreme feelings of tiredness and exhaustion often indicate mental health issues among people. This may manifest in one’s physical health and affect their normal function. Fatigue is considered among the early signs of depression and other mental disorders. In some cases, fatigue may influence a person to always sleep and refuse to move throughout the day.
- Overwhelm: Poor mental health could affect your tolerance to unexpected events. It may cause you to feel overwhelmed and stressed out with unplanned things and may impede you from coping with them. This may also cause short breathings and restlessness.
- Agoraphobia: Agoraphobia is characterized as the incapacitating fear of being in places where escape might be difficult if things go wrong. Due to this, many people refuse to leave the comfort of their house.
- Apathy: Anxiety and depression are some of the mental disorders that could make you feel like a hollow shell. Even the things and activities you used to enjoy may seem bleak and uninteresting.
- Social Withdrawal: Having occasional alone time is crucial for one’s peace and solitude. Introverted people may also feel at peace being alone than with others. However, being distressed in the company of others and choosing to withdraw even from your loved ones may indicate a mental disorder.
- Disproportionate Anger: Anger is among the most fundamental emotions of a person. It’s normal to feel angry at times. However, people with mental illnesses are more prone to anger, loathing, and resentful, be it to themselves or others. If left unchecked, anger could cause them to act beyond logical reasoning and may lead to violent actions.
3. Worrying Too Much
Being worried about uncertain things or scary situations is common among people. It’s also normal to feel anxious about sudden changes in your life. However, feeling as though you’re suffocating due to constant fear and anxiety might not be healthy.
Excessive worrying may hamper your ability to adjust to life’s struggles or cope healthily in stressful situations. If you’re constantly having intrusive thoughts that keep you awake at night, then it may be time to seek a therapist in your area.
4. Recurrence of Involuntary Memories
Being in a traumatic situation or having unpleasant experiences may leave lingering impacts on your mental health and overall well-being. Whether you believe it or not, these events may affect how you function and perceive the things and people around you.
Particularly, you may experience the recurrence of post-traumatic stress and involuntary memories. The sudden flashbacks may cause you more emotional distress that may later affect your quality of life. These negative memories and emotions will also cause a dent in your relationships and may even start affecting the fulfillment of your work and other responsibilities.
5. Inability to Maintain Relationships
If you’re unable to develop relationships with the people around you or have a hard time handling present relationships, then that might be the right time to consult a professional. It’s because the inability to handle relationships is an early sign of mental issues.
Aside from that, couples who are suffering from unfulfilling relationships may also benefit from seeking professional mental health counseling to resolve their concerns or help them find a way to rekindle the relationship. It’s also a great way for couples to open up and express their needs and expectations fully in a healthy and safe manner.
6. Difficulty in Handling Life Transitions
It’s never easy managing the changes brought about by sudden life transitions. Whether it’s for a good cause or not, many people often have a hard time dealing with sudden life events. In most cases, some people may experience extreme stress due to a sudden career change, moving to a new place, divorce, or the death of a loved one.
When such difficulties arise, you might feel suffocated with anxiety or grief and may have a hard time coping with these events. That’s why seeing a counselor might be the best idea to process your emotions and thoughts.
7. Shows Signs of Addictive Behavior
People who are struggling with any type of addiction—be it substance abuse, alcohol, gambling, or an eating disorder, may exhibit unusual behaviors. However, these bad habits usually have underlying psychological factors.
For many people, drinking alcohol or abusing certain drugs is a way to cope with grief or immense emotional pain. While they will always get a kick out of it, such substances are rather short-lived and will also harm the body and mind in the long run. It’s best to seek professional help once you notice you’re constantly battling a bad habit. A counselor or therapist can help you stay on a path of healing and find ways to cope more healthily during the process.
8. Executes Obsessive or Compulsive Behaviors
Although some people may not know it, the things they often do unconsciously may indicate their mental health condition. Particularly, people struggling with mental illnesses, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) may show repetitive actions. These may include constantly checking the stove, door locks, and windows.
People with the said conditions may also experience having compulsive thoughts and may execute obsessive behavior, such as obsessively washing their hands due to the fear of catching germs. If you’ve been dealing with the aforementioned behaviors and concerns, then seeking professional mental health counseling could help get your life in order.
Key Takeaway
If you’re having a hard time maintaining your mental health or keeping up with your emotions, then consulting a counselor or psychologist might be beneficial for you. Aside from that, you may also consider undergoing certain types of therapy and treatments, including counseling and psychological interventions.
Therapy may also help people address their situation, learn why they’re feeling that way, and know how to cope with it. Seeking professional mental health counseling may also help people gain more insight and awareness about their condition and learn about the importance of their mental health. Although it can be scary at first, taking the initiative to seek professional help could make you recover faster.
