Mental Illness Is Not a Prerequisite for Trying Psychotherapy

Mental health has taken on greater cultural importance over the last several years. It seems that people are more concerned than ever about their mental health. Perhaps that’s why organizations like Utah’s KindlyMD are making a concerted effort to offer mental health services alongside things like pain management and plant-based medicine.

The thing about psychotherapy is that it isn’t reserved exclusively for people with diagnosed mental illness. In fact, mental illness is not a prerequisite for trying psychotherapy. It also follows that a person helped by psychotherapy is not necessarily mentally ill.

KindlyMD explains that people come to them for therapy for a variety of reasons. Those reasons include:

• Managing relationship problems.
• Dealing with loss or grief.
• Managing daily stress.
• Improving self esteem.

Even some of life’s daily challenges are easier to cope with when a person has a therapist to talk with. Just the mere act of sitting down and working things through verbally can do wonders for someone who is troubled.

Therapy for Everyday Stresses

As the world becomes more complicated, people discover stress manifested in ways they have never experienced before. Stress is bad for a person’s physical and mental health. Therefore, finding a way to properly manage stress contributes to a healthier lifestyle. For some people, this means therapy.

Today’s therapists help patients overcome work-related stress. In turn, patients become more productive, more satisfied, and more likely to actually care about their work. Outside of the workspace, therapists also help patients:

• Resolve family conflicts.
• Work on personal development.
• Navigate life transitions.
• Chart future plans.

There are few practical limits to the problems therapists can help with. This is partially due to the fact that therapists have a lot of tools to work with.

Some Therapy Examples

Clinically trained therapists can focus on just one or two core therapies or take a broader approach. It’s up to each therapist to decide for him or herself. One of the more commonly utilized therapies is known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It is a talking based therapy designed to help patients recognize and change inaccurate and negative thoughts. Mental Illness Is Not a Prerequisite for Trying Psychotherapy

CBT is designed to take advantage of the link between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. By changing thoughts and emotions, patients can also change their behaviors. Likewise, changed behaviors lead to more accurate and positive thoughts.

Other commonly utilized therapies include:

• Cognitive therapy.
• Cognitive processing therapy.
• Prolonged exposure therapy.
• Brief eclectic psychotherapy.
• Narrative exposure therapy.

Each particular therapy has its own modality and goals. Therapists work with patients to find the best therapies for their circumstances and needs. Then they worked through the therapies together.

Temporary or Long Term

Another thing to note about psychotherapy is that there is no such thing as a black-and-white treatment plan. Psychotherapists develop individualized treatment plans for each patient. Customization impacts everything from treatment choices to duration.

For some people, therapy is a temporary thing. A patient might undergo 20 CBT sessions, achieve all the goals, and thereby complete the treatment. CBT works well in such scenarios because it is purposely designed to be closed ended.

Another patient may participate in therapy for the long term. There could be several years of visits as the patient and therapist utilize a selection of therapies to work through multiple issues.

Despite what you may have been led to believe, psychotherapy isn’t just for people with diagnosed mental illness. Therapists work with all sorts of patients who are just trying to sort out life’s routine challenges. If you could use a little help yourself, perhaps considering therapy isn’t such a wild idea.