The Five Essential Forms of Mental Health Treatment
Mental health is paramount. Our mind and body are connected. To be healthy, we need to tend to both our minds and our bodies, but also the way that they interact with one another. Whether you are struggling with maladaptive behavior, reckoning with trauma, depression, anxiety, or something else, there is a form of mental health treatment available to you. It’s vital to go through the right treatment to see results, and these results are only lasting by doing the work. Below are five essential forms of mental health treatment that can help you live a better, happier, and more productive life.
Psychotherapy
Talk therapy is what people mean when they use the term in shorthand. Psychotherapy is an incredible resource for all kinds of people. Anyone who needs to talk to someone should attend sessions, but they can also be more specialized.
Whether you are working with a therapist who specializes in childhood development or someone who is an expert in anxiety, there are many forms of psychotherapy. It can work wonders. A therapist is meant to listen, mirror emotions, challenge your preconceptions, and provide helpful feedback. Their job is, in a sense, to work themselves out of a job by providing the tools for you to cope and deal with your problems.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment designed to help the patient change their behaviors. This is one of the most effective treatments for people who can’t stop using maladaptive behavioral processing. CBT can help people stop overeating, acting out sexually, and using substances. There are also other forms of CBT.
DBT treatment, or dialectical behavioral therapy, is a specialized form of CBT focusing on negative thought patterns. It can be very helpful for people who are struggling with self-loathing, self-harm, or suicidal ideations. It can illuminate the fallacy in negative thought patterns and help the patient change the way they think. DBT is very common for teens and young adults who are more prone to self-harm.
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
EMDR, or eye movement desensitization reprocessing, is a form of therapy that aims to rework the response to trauma with a physical form of treatment. EMDR can help people change their triggers to trauma in just a few sessions. A specialist in EMDR will have you move your eyes and perform other physical tasks while getting your brain to think about trauma. This provides a new context for the brain to deal with trauma and helps augment the response to it. When you have been traumatized in your life, EMDR can be very effective in mitigating symptoms and alleviating the pain it continues to cause.
Substance Abuse Treatment
Substance abuse and addiction is one of the country’s largest mental health problems. Physical dependence on drugs is both a symptom of underlying mental health issues and a mental health disorder. Dual diagnosis treatment aims to treat both the addiction and the underlying causes. There is also group therapy in the 12-step format and individual counseling with an addiction specialist. Every person and their addiction are different, so this treatment should be personalized and comprehensive.
Medication
Finally, medication is used for several mental health disorders. Everything from depression to anxiety to bipolar disorder to schizophrenia can be treated with medication. Even addiction can be treated with the right medication. Of course, you shouldn’t take medication unless it’s necessary—there are a lot of side effects—but if you need medication, you should be sure to find the right psychiatrist who can provide an in-depth diagnosis. The right medication can save people’s lives.
These five forms of mental health treatment are some of the most essential, but they aren’t the only ones. Nowadays, there is a specialized treatment for nearly every mental health ailment. One thing to keep in mind is that there is no shame in needing treatment. We are all human. We don’t shame people for having cancer, why would we shame people for their mental health?
As the stigma goes down and people get the treatment they need, we become a healthier society. Mental health isn’t at its best right now in the United States, and that’s okay. Accepting help is the first step to living a healthier, happier life. Do you need treatment? Try one of these options.
