When to Know if I Should Seek Help: Mental Health and Stigma in Society Part 2 of 2
- Logan Holmes
- May 15
- 6 min read
In Part 1, we learned about the importance of stigma, the universal experience of stress, and how stress impacts our brains. To recap, stress is something we have all felt at some point, and it can come from many different places. We can experience bigger event-driven stress like a car accident or being deployed in a war. And we can experience what I will call “fluid” stress, which is more day-to-day stress we experience that also negatively affects our brains, like not having enough money for our car payment and having to work overtime to get it. Feeling stress too often can limit our brains’ ability to learn how to identify and express our emotions and how we feel in our body, which can negatively affect how we go about our lives. Our “anger” or “sadness” might be stemming from how stress limited our ability to express our emotions, which can lead to many issues such as marital problems, workplace issues, or isolation and frustration. Stress can be a good thing too though. For instance, one of the best ways to learn can be by having someone else teach us something new by having us get just outside of our comfort zone. That, by definition, is also stress, but it is healthy stress. It is not too late to rewire our brains and learn how to better understand our emotions, accept or change our thoughts and calm our bodies, and subsequently be better at communicating our feelings to help ourselves be better understood!
In this Part 2, we will explore how to know if therapy is “right” for me, some ways to help ourselves, some of the different ways that therapy “happens”, what to expect by going to therapy, and how to benefit from therapy. Understanding and overcoming stigma is important in thinking about the following statements. To know if seeking mental health help is right for you, you have to recognize the negative toll that stress has had on your brain and body’s ability to feel safe, calm, and communicative about your feelings and thoughts. While you are not alone in the picture of mental health, you are uniquely equipped, just you yourself, to be the one to try to understand the way your brain and body work and feel. Mental health support may be for you if you’ve resonated with anything said in Part 1 or in this recap, such as if you’ve recently thought:
“I have felt stressed with my job lately, and not in a healthy way.”
“I do feel ‘sad’ a lot of the time.”
“I have tension in my body and I can’t get to sleep sometimes.”
“I can’t seem to get what I want when I’m working with other people.”
The good news is that there are a ton of ways to explore alleviating these conditions through therapy, medication, or both. But what exactly is therapy?
To start, keep in mind that we are all at different starting places, and therapy aims to address our needs by meeting us where we are at. Therapy is a way to explore our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and can happen in a multitude of different ways. Therapy can be one on one, or in groups. Clients in this type of therapy can explore more therapeutic “modalities” than I can list here, such as common forms like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). All of these modalities can be explored more here on our website to learn more if they may be right for you - however, your therapist will often work with you collaboratively to figure out what is a best fit for your needs. Therapists often say that the relationship between therapist and client is the real driver of change. Picture a seesaw that has no bar in the middle to help it tip back and forth. The bar is the therapist, and without the bar, who knows which direction the seesaw might tip?
As a student clinician writing this blog designed to reduce stigma and encourage engaging people in the therapeutic process, I personally support the use of mindfulness as a modality in therapy, and here’s why. Mindfulness is simply intentionally practicing being mindful - sounds both too simple and too complicated, right? Practicing mindfulness exercises can look like things as simple as closing your eyes, listening to music, practicing breathing, or even going to bed at a predetermined time. Mindfulness is any intentional activity that is designed to reacquaint oneself with the feelings held within their body, and combine that with relaxation techniques in order to alleviate stress. And that’s why I like it so much - anyone can begin practicing it, and you can practice it on your own and/or with the help of a therapist. Studies show that practicing mindfulness greatly increases people’s bodily awareness and sense of self, and greatly decreases people’s stress and worry - both of these things are essential for improving well being and also our positive interactions with others. Being mindful can help people in many areas of their lives.
Therapy can also happen in other settings and in other modalities. For example, the modalities above like CBT and DBT are typically used in one on one therapeutic sessions. There are also therapeutic programs targeted toward group processes. Common ones include Alcoholics Anonymous which is a 12 step group program, adventure and wilderness therapy groups, and community/restorative groups. Your therapist may or may not have the specific certifications needed to work with you in these settings, so you are better off talking to your therapist about what they can help you with in their scope of practice, or simply searching for “group therapy options” online.
Therapy is also something more mainstream than some might think! There is bibliotherapy, which literally means “reading help”; a lot of people explore combining medication and therapy. And don’t forget that almost any modality of therapy can also be done online! Many therapists and groups offer online and in person therapy options and can work around your schedule.
“What will I need for therapy? What will my therapist ask of me?”
This is a great question. Therapy typically begins with an intake, which is a series of basic questions about your health, mental health and mental health and social history, and if you have attended therapy before. It also typically includes a questionnaire or two (like the GAD-7 or PHQ-9) to fill out that informs the therapist of the direction of therapy to best serve the needs of the client. These also screen for potential mental health conditions, which provide further information for the purposes of treatment. Clients can ask their therapist at any time why they are asking the questions that they are, or can also decline to answer questions at any time, but trying to be honest is always important. From there, the therapist will generate a treatment plan for client review, and the client will begin regularly scheduled sessions depending on client need. Most common are weekly and bi-weekly sessions, but appointments can be scheduled on a monthly basis, or “as needed” in some cases as well. Sessions will be targeted for treatment goals, these goals are flexible and can be changed at any time with client input. Over time, the therapist will review the client’s progress with the client, and adjust treatment goals and frequency as needed.
Therapists will also take medical insurance information for billing purposes, but typically have insurance billers in their offices and may not always do their own billing. Nonetheless, if you have any questions about the cost of therapy or how it can be billed to your insurance, the intake would be a great time to ask.
And that’s it! Hopefully you have become more aware about whether therapy could be a good fit for you, some strategies to try, and some therapy modalities to look into exploring! You are encouraged to explore other blog posts on our site that can help you learn more about stress, anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions. You may also read more on this blog about what types of therapy you might be interested in, such as CBT, and how these types of therapy work to undo stress and anxiety.
For a deeper walkthrough of how we can rewire our brains through improving our resilience, see the link below:
References:
Stress effects on the body. (2023, March 8). https://www.apa.org. https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/body
Van Der Kolk, B. A. (2015). The body keeps the score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
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