If you get, say, depressed because of your life being constant shit, how will going to a mental institution help? How does therapy help?
It’s not like therapy is going to solve the problems you face in life, like lack of money, friends, bad job, etc? I guess I’m asking what is the purpose of therapy and mental institutions?
A good therapist will help you to find reasons to and ways to deal with your problems. A mental institution provides a place for people who are a danger to themselves or others to get mental health treatment.
So a therapist will give you advice on how to deal with the issues you encounter? I’m still not really sure how it will really help with life issues. Thanks for the answer though, I’m just trying to learn what a therapist does for a person. I think I got a bit confused as to what a mental institution is.
While they will definitely not have the answers or advice on how to solve all the issues you encounter, they do have insight into helping people deal with issues that often feel insurmountable because of mental illness. i.e. if you are depressed, and that is preventing you from finding a good job or performing adequately in your current one, they might be able to help you understand why you are depressed and what’s keeping you from doing anything about it. They can help you reveal things about yourself that you didn’t realize, which can help you then move forward with things that you’ve been avoiding or deal with things that you’ve been holding onto for the wrong reasons.
I see. I have been considering going to a therapist. I find myself staying in bed most days and feel tired all the time, I can’t really motivate myself to get out and do stuff. Today’s a good day though, I actually managed to make some food and turn on my computer to do some work.
My friends and family just keep saying there’s nothing wrong with me, and I’m just lazy. Maybe they’re right, who knows? I only know I haven’t always been like this. I also live in Singapore, where they don’t really care too much about people’s mental health, just their productivity, so maybe that’s contributing to their opinion.
Thanks for the answer though, it helps a lot. 😁
Simply talking about stuff usually offers relief. On top of that, by trying to explain everything going on in your head to another person you end up understanding the how and the why and it helps you manage it better as well. And then they give you exercises to do and things like that which help.
Also, remember that we’re talking about a therapist. Even tho they’re trained and stuff, they’re usually not doctors and can’t prescribe medicine. At least not where I live. For antidepressants and stuff like that you need a psychiatrist.
They also help with emotional understanding- of yourself and of others.
Think of it as guided introspection. Also there may be specific things to work on.
Fear of heights? They can help with that.
Have trouble managing stress or frustration? Yup.
Need to learn healthy coping mechanisms?
Develop new habits and break old ones?
Is that inner voice of yours the biggest critic you know? Struggle with self doubt?
These are very common things that most people struggle with.
You’re not sure how advice on dealing with your problems will help fix those problems?
- Have problem.
- Get advice on how to fix problem.
- Implement the advice given.
- Problem fixed? No: Go to 2. Yes: Win!
The confusion of the OP was how would a therapist help fix financial issues? The thing about depression and other mental health issues is that they will remain even if the financial situation gets fixed (e.g. you come into a windfall). They are due to underlying problems.
Depression needs to be treated along with getting financial advice from a different expert.
It sounds like you feel helpless. You’re having difficulty understanding how a therapist can help because you see all of your problems as “uncontrollable things that happen TO you.”
The point of the therapist is to change how you view yourself and your world. You think that the only way your life could get better is for some external force to remove your problems, but YOU can fix the problems yourself, or, at least have the ability to continue living a happy life despite the problems.
Ah I think I understand. The therapist doesn’t really solve any of my problems, they just suggest steps I could take to fix them myself, or learn to accept things?
First off, therapists can be accessed without institutions. Second, a therapist will help you to learn to recognize your own patterns, strengths, and weaknesses, and will help you to learn from, process, and grow though experienced trauma. They can also help with recognizing emotions, toxic behavior (either your own or someone else’s), and give you tools to adjust.
I’m trying to think about a good medical analogy for what therapists and psychiatrists (that both prescribe meds and do therapy).
The best analogy I can come up with is thinking about mental health in 2 categories, and using medical treatment as an analogy like a previous user mentioned. You can have low level mental health issues where a little therapy is needed to reset your approach maybe using therapy every couple weeks for 6 months. Or you can have a serious condition that results in a threat to your or others life. That that doesn’t have to be death, it could be serious illness or physical injury.
It’s like the difference between someone needing a physical trainer at the gym to get back into shape, where you can white knuckle the process on your own but it’s WAY more efficient to get outside guidance. That example is someone with low level mental health problems. Then there’s the severe stroke victim in a coma for 3 months, this person will NOT benefit from a physical trainer, they need a medically trained physical therapist. This example is someone suicidal and non socially functional with MDD, or bipolar disorder that is cutting themselves, and other severe mental health issues. They need significant help, maybe PHP, or skilled weekly or even twice weekly therapy. And an individual can process through both low level and extreme states over the decades.
A mental institution provides a place for people who are a danger to themselves or others to get mental health treatment.
Those are the requirements to get involuntarily committed, they’re not just for extreme cases.
