Seeking Professional Help for Mental Health

Seeking Professional Help for Mental Health

Seeking Professional Help for Mental Health

Seeking Professional Help— When, Where, and How?

Chances are good that at some point you or someone in your family will benefit from mental health services of one kind or another. In one survey, 13.4 percent of all Americans received treatment for a mental health concern during the preceding year (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011a).

How would I know if I should seek professional help at some point in my life? Although there is no simple answer to this question, the following guidelines may be helpful:

1. If your level of psychological discomfort (unhappiness, anxiety, or depression, for example) is comparable to a level of physical discomfort that would cause you to see a doctor or dentist, you should consider seeing a psychologist or a psychiatrist.

2. Another signal to watch for is significant changes in behavior, such as the quality of your work (or schoolwork), your rate of absenteeism, your use of drugs (including alcohol), or your relation- ships with others.

3. Perhaps you have urged a friend or relative to seek professional help and were dismayed because he or she refused to do so. If you find friends or relatives making a similar suggestion, recognize that they may be seeing things more clearly than you are.

4. If you have persistent or disturbing suicidal thoughts or impulses, you should seek help immediately.

Seeking Professional Help for Mental Health

Procedure for Constructing a Hierarchy

Make a list of situations (related to the fear) that make you anxious. Try to list at least 10 situations. Some should be very frightening and others only mildly frightening. Write a short description of each situation on a separate 3-by-5 card. Place the cards in order from the least disturbing situation to the most disturbing. Here is a sample hierarchy for a student afraid of public speaking:

1. Being given an assignment to speak in class.

2. Thinking about the topic and the date the speech must be given.

3. Writing the speech; thinking about delivering the speech.

4. Watching other students speak in class the week before the speech date.

5. Rehearsing the speech alone; pretending to give it to the class.

6. Delivering the speech to my roommate; pretending my roommate is the teacher.

7. Reviewing the speech on the day it is to be presented.

8. Entering the classroom; waiting and thinking about the speech.

9. Being called; standing up; facing the audience.

10. Delivering the speech.

Using the Hierarchy When you have mastered the relaxation exercises and have the hierarchy constructed, set aside time each day to work on reducing your fear. Begin by performing the relaxation exercises. When you are completely relaxed, visualize the scene on the first card (the least frightening scene). If you can vividly picture and imagine yourself in the first situation twice without a noticeable increase in muscle tension, proceed to the next card. Also, as you progress, relax yourself between cards.

Each day, stop when you reach a card that you cannot visualize without becoming tense in three attempts. Seeking Professional Help for Mental Health.

9781285519517, Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior with Concept Maps and Reviews, Thirteenth Edition, Coon/Mitterer – © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization.

 

Peer counselor

A nonprofessional person who has learned basic counseling skills.

Self-help group

A group of people who share a particular type of problem and provide mutual support to one another.

As an alternative you might ask the person teaching this course for a referral. Seeking Professional Help for Mental Health.

Evaluating a Therapist

How would I know whether to quit or ignore a therapist? A balanced look at psychotherapies suggests that all techniques can be equally successful (Wampold et al., 1997). However, all therapists are not equally successful. Far more important than the approach used are the therapist’s personal qualities (Okiishi et al., 2003; Prochaska & Norcross, 2010). The most consistently successful therapists are those who are willing to use whatever method seems most helpful for a client. They are also marked by personal characteristics of warmth, integrity, sincerity, and empathy. Former clients consistently rate the person doing the therapy as more important than the type of therapy used (Elliott & Williams, 2003).

It is perhaps most accurate to say that at this stage of development, psychotherapy is an art, not a science. The relationship between a client and therapist is the therapist’s most basic tool (Hubble, Duncan, & Miller, 1999; Prochaska & Norcross, 2010). This is why you must trust and easily relate to a therapist for therapy to be effective. Here are some danger signals to watch for in psychotherapy:

• Sexual advances by therapist • Therapist makes repeated verbal threats or is physically aggressive • Therapist is excessively blaming, belittling, hostile, or controlling • Therapist makes excessive small talk; talks repeatedly about his/her own problems • Therapist encourages prolonged dependence on him/her • Therapist demands absolute trust or tells client not to discuss therapy with anyone else

Clients who like their therapist are generally more successful in therapy (Talley, Strupp, & Morey, 1990). An especially important part of the therapeutic alliance is agreement about the goals of therapy (Meier et al., 2006). It is, therefore, a good idea to think about what you would like to accomplish by entering therapy.

There is a natural tendency, perhaps, to doubt the abilities of paraprofessionals. However, many studies have shown that paraprofessional counselors are often as effective as professionals (Christensen & Jacobson, 1994).

Also, don’t overlook self-help groups, which can add valuable support to professional treatment. Members of a self-help group typically share a particular type of problem, such as eating disorders or coping with an alcoholic parent. Self-help groups offer members mutual support and a chance to discuss problems. In many instances, helping others also serves as therapy for those who give help (Burlingame & Davies, 2002). For some problems, self-help groups may be the best choice of all (Fobair, 1997; Galanter et al., 2005).

Qualifications You can usually find out about a therapist’s qualifications simply by asking. A reputable therapist will be glad to reveal his or her background. If you have any doubts, credentials may be checked and other helpful information can be obtained from local branches of any of the following organizations. You can also browse the websites listed here:

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (www.aamft.org) American Family Therapy Academy (www.afta.org) American Psychiatric Association (www.psych.org) American Psychological Association (www.apa.org) Association of Humanistic Psychology (www.ahpweb.org) Canadian Psychiatric Association (www.cpa-apc.org) Canadian Psychological Association (www.cpa.ca) Mental Health America (www.nmha.org)

The question of how to pick a particular therapist remains. The best way is to start with a short consultation with a respected psychiatrist, psychologist, or counselor. This will allow the person you consult to evaluate your difficulty and recommend a type of therapy or a therapist who is likely to be helpful. Seeking Professional Help for Mental Health.

Both are trained to do psychotherapy and can be equally effective as therapists (Seligman, 1995). Although a psychiatrist can administer somatic therapy and prescribe drugs, so can psychologists in New Mexico and Louisiana (Munsey, 2006). Besides, a psychologist can work in conjunction with a physician if such services are needed.

Fees for psychiatrists are usually higher, averaging about $160 to $200 an hour. Psychologists average about $100 an hour. Counselors and social workers typically charge about $80 per hour. Group therapy averages only about $40 an hour because the therapist’s fee is divided among several people.

Be aware that most health insurance plans will pay for psychological services. If fees are a problem, keep in mind that many therapists charge on a sliding scale, or ability-to-pay basis, and that community mental health centers almost always charge on a sliding scale. In one way or another, help is almost always available for anyone who needs it.

Some communities and college campuses have counseling services staffed by sympathetic paraprofessionals or peer counselors. These services are free or very low cost. As mentioned earlier, paraprofessionals are people who work in a near-professional capacity under professional supervision.