A mental health therapist specializes in helping you help yourself to an improved quality of life. Resistance to seeing a therapist is often high. Understandable reasons do sometimes exist but many people avoid therapy based on misconceptions about the process.
Online searches make it easy to research the best fits and find a therapist near you. Sessions are even available seven days a week with some services.
Individual therapy, relationship counseling and therapy for countless types of mental/emotional disorders are accessible today. Allowing misunderstandings about therapy to prevent you from getting the help you need often lets problems grow out of control. Reading ahead about common misconceptions will change how you view therapy and get you moving in the right direction again today.
Understanding Therapy Basics
A mental health therapist helps clients and/or patients improve their quality of life by providing unbiased guidance and advice about specific issues. Sessions are commonly booked in thirty, forty-five or sixty-minute blocks of time depending on needs and insurance coverage policies. Therapists do a lot of listening and take mental or written notes during the process.
Poignant talking points are discussed in more detail when a client emphasizes the need or the therapist notices patterns or specific issues. It is easy to research and find a qualified therapist in your area by using online searches.
Beginning your therapy commonly requires an intake session with an intake specialist, who assesses your situation/needs and then assigns you to a counselor within the organization who is best suited to your needs.
Reasons People Need Therapy
People of all ages and walks of life benefit from therapy counseling sessions today. A child therapist deals with issues such as ADD/ADHD, anger management and the impact of divorces. Counselors are available for seniors as well. Seniors sometimes need assistance coping with the effects of aging.
Therapy for anxiety is also as common for seniors as it is for client demographics ranging from primary school to prime adult years. Individuals, couples (relationships) or groups experiencing work or disaster-related tragedies all benefit from professional therapy sessions today.
6 Common Misconceptions About Therapy in 2024
People avoid therapy based on 6 common misconceptions about the process. Learning about these misconceptions and adjusting your perspective to understand the differences might help improve your life or the life of someone you love.
It might even save your marriage. The 6 most common misconceptions about therapy in 2024 involve:
- Blame
- Judgment
- Orders/Control
- Time and Travel
- Affordability
- Misinterpreting Couples Counseling
Blame
Individual therapy is often avoided because some people believe their therapist will focus on blame instead of forgiveness. Other people blame themselves for past actions and believe they do not deserve forgiveness.
Therapy guides people to take responsibility for their actions, forgive themselves and others then move on to a better quality of life. Blame is simply not part of a quality therapist’s toolkit. When a person realizes personal responsibility is different than blame and judgment his or her healing truly begins.
Judgment
Therapy for anxiety is often needed by people with a fear of judgement. The fear a therapist will act judgmentally toward someone with substance abuse or mental health issues is prevalent among prospective patients with these types of issues.
Some people also judge themselves harshly for mistakes made in the past or struggles in the present. Body-image judgment is also common in modern times and the heavy anxiety it creates prevents potential clients from allowing themselves to be seen in public. Talk therapy is available via phone, however, as is text therapy and alternate options where help is available without in-person sessions.
Time and Travel (Telehealth)
A common misconception about therapy in modern times is a person simply has no time to attend any sessions. Americans work more than people in every other country in the world today. Who has time to make the extra commute to a counseling session when life is already hectic?
The truth is most people have the time and simply do not realize it. Counseling is adaptable to your needs. Telehealth therapy is available via phone, tablet, laptop and other smart technology-enabled devices.
Telehealth sessions allow you to stay in the comfort of your home and still receive the care you need. Text therapy is highly convenient and a succinct method of getting bursts of guidance during lunch breaks and even short sessions before you leave for work or school. Many counselors also simply talk to clients on the phone without the use of video. Getting the help you need is conveniently accessible in 2021.
Time and travel are no longer limitations preventing you from improving your quality of life.
Orders/Control
A common misconception about therapists involves thinking they will give you orders or attempt to control your life. This could not be further from the truth. When you find a therapist and start your sessions you will discover his or her job is to guide, console and empower you – not control your choices.
Even a child therapist is not there to give orders to children or parents. Therapists instead attempt to help you create order out of emotional/mental chaos and guide you to take control of your own life and actions.
Affordability (private and subsidized health insurance)
Another common misconception is related to the affordability of therapy. Both private and subsidized health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid cover substance abuse and mental health therapist services to varying degrees.
Medicare Part(s) A and B cover inpatient and outpatient mental health services respectively. Medicare Part D covers medications prescribed for mental/emotional disorders and Medicaid covers substance abuse and other mental health services.
Most private individual and group insurance plans have been required to cover various types of mental health services since 2014, while also adhering to the parity protections required under MHPAEA.
Couples Counseling is Biased
Many couples believe seeing a relationship therapist for couples counseling is both an embarrassment and a signal of marital/relational failure. Two common misconceptions involve the perception of couples counseling as biased and a therapist as partial to only one side.
Quality relationship counseling is an impartial process, however, with many benefits for both sides. The job of a relationship therapist is not to choose a side but rather to bring both sides together in a loving, mutually beneficial way.
By Admin –
