Getting Professional Counselling or Psychotherapy

Getting Professional Counselling or Psychotherapy

Getting professional counselling may be very important for someone struggling with a mental illness, or simply overwhelmed by daily hassles and challenges. However, due to mental health and mental illness stigma, getting professional counselling can be difficult. No one wants to be called crazy or weak, and unfortunately in the current psychological health climate, sometimes things get blown out of proportion and people get called all kinds of names for no reason.

People seeking counselling or psychotherapy should not feel ashamed. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

For example, recently there was a TV campaign done by the telecommunications giant Bell about mental health. The commercials shows that people often judge others for having a mental illness, unfortunately such judgments may not only hurt the feelings of people suffering from a mental illness, but also preclude them from being seen by a mental health specialist, such as a licensed psychiatrist. In the commercials, the message urges to reduce the stigma attached, and to give people with mental disorders a chance of not being isolated and judged, and overall the advertisements project a message of hope.

But how do people with a mental illness actually feel? From personal experience working at a mental health and addiction rehabilitation clinic, without mentioning anyone by name or disclosing anyone’s personal details which are strictly confidential, I can tell that patients have all kinds of problems before even disclosing for the first time to a therapist or a crisis intervention counsellor. For instance, people with depression are used to being considered weak for having depression, as if having depression was simply a character flaw and if they were stronger then they would not be ill. Sadly, depression is a serious clinical condition and one cannot simply will it away or wish it away.

People may feel uneasy about getting counselling or psychotherapy. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

A similar but different challenge exists with psychosis and disorders involving psychotic features, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder or psychotic depression. In such cases, the patient may not understand that they have a problem at all. Indeed, no matter how far-fetched or unrealistic the delusions or hallucinations seem to be, they appear quite real to the person suffering from the mental illness. In fact, an ill mind has its own logic and transforms all evidence to the contrary of the fixed false beliefs, or imagined sensory stimuli, into something that feels real. Luckily, there are hospitals, clinics and mental health professionals who can help people in need of professional, psychiatric help.