Hi. My name is Jackie, and I get therapy.
I hereby profess, once or twice a week, I get
counseling.
From a professional.
Even my insurance thinks it's worthy.
...and we all know health insurance doesn't pay for things that don't work.
If INSURANCE thinks it's worth covering
WHY isn't it offered to the chronically mentally ill?
In my experience, psychotherapy is an organic process that unveils the shadows and angst in my daily world. My grief and burdens are heard without judgement. It's a safe place to express innermost thoughts, fears, troubles... And the psychologist is trained to help heal my wounded soul and
#shrink the scars in my heart.
From the Oxford Dictionary:
ther·a·py
ˈTHerəpē/
noun
treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder.
"a course of antibiotic therapy"
| synonyms: | treatment, remedy, cure
|
the treatment of mental or psychological disorders by psychological means.
Therapeutic counseling heals, cures, remedies, treats.
When the ire of the world wreaks havok in our lives, resulting in things like anxiety, high blood pressure, (and pimples!), I'll opt for first TALKING about these problems with a skilled professional, instead of taking a drug that probably has some very uncomfortable and possibly permanent and damaging side-effects.
I always feel better after therapy. It brings relief. There's no more natural way to lessen the load. But for the chronically mentally ill - these MOST IN NEED of everything available, our system doesn't offer counseling in acute care facilities. Yet another reason the statistics are getting worse, not better. I believe it should be offered first, so the caregiver can treat the patient like a human, and procure what's ailing them on a sensitive and personal level. Instead, those in crisis are met with a needle full of tranquilers...who cares if they're allergic to old, first generation neurotoxins. Not a thought whether that forced drug could be doing more damage to this fragile soul. Na. The patients are now called "consumers" because they are just that: consumers of meds. Whether they like it or not.
The only way to cure something is by finding the root cause and treating THAT. In the case of psychological trauma, it's the psyche that needs gentle, thoughtful, careful treatment. I hate it that most people think the definition of "treatment" is a drug regimine. This is a problem. Sensitive people feel things deeply. With the rise in suicides, the current approach of RX after RX, is not working. #care #compassion #time - not chemicals.
A broken heart can't be medicated to wellness. And until a doctor can show me lab work to prove there's a chemical imbalance, forced drugging should be a last resort. Think about it. When there's a broken bone, a scraped knee, a bruised muscle...these injuries have to heal. Pain medicine only masks the symptom of pain, but the cause of the pain is from a deeper source, and true healing comes from regeneration and restoration, not from masking symptoms.
Twenty years ago I tried the anti-depressant Zoloft ® during a bout of the blues, after moving to another state.
All it did was cause me to lose my emotion. I was "flat." I no longer felt sad, but I also couldn't feel happy while on it. Forget that! So, I titrated carefully off after about six months, because
this was not the answer.
I'd much rather FEEL life, than be a neutralized zombie. We have feelings for a reason. Emotions are a guage to what's right and wrong in our lives. Feelings are important, and
LOVE is the King of all feelings. Love is the great healer. Great emotional pain will take time...and love... to heal. A good psychotherapist is like a soul whisperer.
There is no pill to cure psychological ills. Talk therapy is a soothing balm on a raw, emotional wound. It is an ointment for the psyche that heals after the sting and injury of deeply painful experiences.
Human beings can be fragile. We should treat the most seriously suffering, with the most tender care.
I recently found an article from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Treatment/Complementary-Health-Approaches
Reading about these complementary health approaches was a nice surprise, given the medical model's pharmacologic approach to "treatment" since the 1990's "Decade of the Brain" has been in full force mode. My brother, who's been entrenched in the mental health system for almost thirty years, was never offered counseling for the first fifteen years. The hospitals only offered him drugs. Still, to this day, psychotherapy is not generally offered. I think this is wrong. So, thank you, NAMI... maybe, just MAYBE the pendulum is starting to swing back to at least middle ground - away from the "medicine only" approach to mental illness treatment. I pray it is so. This NAMI piece gives our family hope that finally the nation is starting to realize,
"traditional medical... methods... often do not completely lessen or eliminate syptoms of mental illess. As a result, many people use complimentary and alternative methods to help with recovery." Thank God. Music to our ears.
It lists:
Natural products, like supplements. Yes! B vitamins, for example:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/integrative-mental-health-care/201709/b-vitamins-play-important-roles-in-mental-health-care
Mind/body treatments, such as yoga and meditation can improve anxiety, mood, fatigue, and ease side effects of conventional medicines.
Animals are great soothers, too. Complimentary therapies can include:
Aviary/bird therapy for PTSD.
Pet therapy for the depressed.
Equine/horse therapy for autism, etc.
Horses are sensitive creatures that can help ease depression and impulsivity. Maybe the reason everyone travels with their pets now, is because they are healing companions. I know they can become "family" ...all good. Bonus if they're trained to aid in our recovery! All the better.
The most obvious and utilized is - Music therapy.
We wouldn't all be sporting EarPods if music didn't collectively soothe our inner beasts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Congreve
LOL! I always think of good ole Bugs Bunny when I hear that phrase...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xit15
(You get me?)
I can't imagine there being a downside to talk therapy.
Being able to freely rant to an unbiased fellow human who is ready, willing and able to help unravel perplexing, confounding, personal issues? Uhhh....yes!
Therapists assist in objectively sorting out
the good/bad, the pros/cons, resulting in better personal insight.
Understanding WHY things injure is is vital to being able to let it go.
Wouldn't anyone benefit from having someone
untangle the broken Christmas lights...er...messy complications
that can cloud our thinking?
Life is HARD. I, for one, need all the help I can get.
My therapist is a kind ear that listens when I cry.
She provides a window where I can vent my anger, longing, and sadness.
It's like telling a trusted confidante our struggles with no risk.
Therapy is where painful truth gets purged, filtered, accepted or rejected.
It helps bring the psyche back to balance, harmony, wholeness and peace.
Keeping the pain inside will cause it to fester.
Stress makes the body ill. No thank you.
It's kinda like confession
without having to do
ten Hail Mary's and five Our Fathers.
(I'm not Catholic,
but I married one.)
Quote:
"Confession is good for the soul because it allows us an avenue to release pain and inner conflict" https://www.quora.com/Why-is-confession-good-for-the-soul
All these are reasons that every psychiatric hospital should offer individual therapy, and not just meds. Many times, the patients don't have someome they can confide in. If they've been troubled for a long time, friends have probably abandoned them, family sometimes give up on them, and society misunderstands and ridicules them. They need ALL the help a facility has in their medicine bag. At the very least, therapy should go hand in hand with medication. Better yet, START with therapy, and keep it as natural as possible. Last resort should be a forced prescription...and only allowed as long has it can be proven that the RX can be metabolized by the individual DNA of the patient. The Genesight.com swab proves a person's DNA tolerance of psych drugs. This should be mandated.
"Environmental factors such as stress may trigger episodes of mania or depression, and counseling can help a person identify and deal with these triggers."
https://www.healthandwellnessalerts.berkeley.edu/alerts/depression_anxiety/Psychotherapy-Pros-and-Cons_7771-1.html
Therapy is necessary. I'm grateful for my counselor, who is willing to listen through my tears, take my stories of sorrow and help me see them in a new way, and work past life's difficult issues. This makes things better. Therapy is like a mirror that reflects and projects a better tomorrow.
A line from a television medical drama states is perfectly:
"When we examine a psych patient who's in prison,
we have to ask ourselves, is this person really depressed,
or are they just living in a situation that is so awful,
so inherently depressing, that any person would have these feelings?"
Exactly, @NBCChicagoMed. This is what everyone needs to understand.
Sometimes our reaction to life is completely appropriate. That does not mean a drug is needed.
*******************************************************
I don't care how many degress you have.
If you think someone with Schizophrenia or Bipolar disorder
or the combo-pack Schizo-Affective Disorder
wouldn't benefit from individual talk therapy,
maybe YOU should see a counselor.
This is a no-brainer.
This is my opinion and I'm stickin' to it.
~ Jackie Welton DiPillo ~
