Posted by: Uticopa in therapy, talking cure on
Dec 06, 2008
Someone once said that the therapist's job is to put himself out of work! It's probably true of all the caring professions: the better you are, the more self-sufficient your patient, thereby lessening the need for further treatment.
One example is the role of family therapists. Newcomers to the whole process of therapy sometimes expect the therapist to take on the role of ‘mother hen'. It is often a subconscious desire on the part of people with deprived childhood experiences to search for someone to take on this role. However, it is not the therapist's job to replace or restore one's parents; rather, it is to provide a non-judgemental, encouraging and safe environment alongside the modelling of good parenting techniques. If the therapist actually took on a ‘mothering' role, she would effectively be negating the ability of the client to be self-sufficient. That would go against everyone's wishes. Clients need to become more confident in their own abilities, not dependent on the therapist's nurturing skills.
I now realise I need help, but how do I choose the right therapist?
Experience has proven time and time again that what is important is the relationship between the client and therapist, and the therapist's skills, knowledge and experience with your individual complaint. There is absolutely no point in reaching for your local Yellow Pages. There are 3 main avenues you can try:
Posted by: Uticopa in therapy, talking cure on
Nov 11, 2008
When you walk through a storm,
Hold your head up high,
And don't be afraid of the dark,
At the end of the storm is a golden sky.
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown,
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart,
And you'll never walk alone.
You'll never walk alone
Rogers and Hammerstein
As the Liverpool anthem says ‘..hold your head up high..and you'll never walk alone.' That's as true today as when Rogers and Hammerstein first penned it. But what if you are so depressed that you need professional help?
Talk therapy is everyday language for psychotherapy. No matter what you call it, it is here to stay. It's a way for people with a mental disorder to understand their illness, and then deal with the stress, unhealthy thoughts and behaviour that so often go with it.
In a recent speech at The Guardian Public Services Summit, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg underlined his belief that the Government was failing the public by putting too much emphasis on medication and not enough on mental health options. He said "Britain has become the true Prozac Nation. I believe this trend has gone too far. This was in response to research his party had carried out that revealed that, for some psychotherapy and counselling services, patients currently have to wait up to two years before they are seen.
Mr Clegg blames the lack of an adequate mental health service offering as one of the major contributions towards the rise in the number of prescription medications being sold in Britain today. A startling 31 million prescription drugs such as Prozac were issued in England alone in 2006. Whilst Mr Clegg acknowledges the role medication plays in alleviating the symptoms of many conditions, he feels that this should not become the default medical solution to all conditions. He vowed to invest in mental health services to reduce long waiting times that could put some people off the treatment and make others wait for an uncomfortable amount of time for care that could change their lives dramatically.
A Department of Health spokesperson said that that over the next three years the Government would be investing and additional £170m into psychological therapies to help those who need it most. Such a long wait to meet with a mental health professional is not only dangerous for some patients and conditions, but as many mental health issues are progressive, by the time they are seen they will require a far longer period of therapy to achieve the same results.
