By: Fajr Zahid, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences Well-being Leader
Therapy can be highly beneficial in helping to treat a wide array of emotional challenges, including mental health conditions, stress, adverse life events, and trauma. It can also help individuals to better understand themselves and their behavior, which is important when trying to overcome such challenges. While therapy is often thought of as a one-on-one session between a patient and a mental health professional, such as a therapist or counselor, there are many different forms of therapy, each targeting a specific goal or outcome. Here are a few common types:
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
CBT aims to help people identify and alter unhealthy behavior patterns and replace them with healthier, more effective behaviors. This type of therapy works well for individuals with mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety.
- Interpersonal therapy (IPT)
IPT places an emphasis on improving relationships and helping patients learn to express their emotions in healthy ways, as well as improving communication skills. This therapy type is known to work well for individuals struggling with depression.
- Family therapy
Family therapy builds stronger communication between family members, and helps in handling and solving conflicts more effectively. Certain forms of this kind of therapy are often used in cases of eating disorders and bipolar disorder.
- Psychodynamic therapy
Psychodynamic therapy focuses on helping people better interpret and understand their unconscious emotions and feelings, which may be affecting their mental well-being and behavior patterns.
- Art therapy
Art therapy helps people express their emotions and promotes healing through art forms such as drawing/painting, music, and dance.
It is important to find the right fit for yourself when beginning your journey with therapy. It may take some trial and error before you find what type of therapy works best for you. While it takes time and patience to begin seeing improvements in your struggling areas, there are many potential benefits to utilizing therapy as a form of treatment for your mental health concerns. These benefits include, but are not limited to:
- Increased strength and resilience against fears and mental struggles
- Overcoming negative/unhealthy behaviors, attitudes, or coping mechanisms
- Improved relationships and communication skills
- Finding relief and peace among difficult life events
- Boosted self-esteem and self-confidence
- Newfound knowledge to handle strong emotions, such as grief or anger
- Healing from past traumas
If you often find yourself struggling with mental health and experience difficulty overcoming these struggles, talking to a therapist or counselor could be of great benefit to you. It is important to keep an open mind and to remain patient throughout your journey, as it may take time to adjust and find your best fit (in terms of both your provider and the type of therapy). I hope you found this article to be useful, and that you are able to apply some of the things I mentioned to improve your own well-being. 🙂
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