Mental Health: Can Therapy help an individual to resolve an unstable mental state?

In this era, many people fail to understand the significance of mental well-being. The majority of population often forget to keep in mind the root of all their problems with sincerity. It leads an individual to regularly blame themselves for not being mindful of: a specific event, an issue, or various circumstances that affected them or a certain someone. With this outcome, it is possible to damage an individual’s self-worth. But has anyone ever thought of improving their actions by knowing the occurrence of the problem? It occurs rarely. But those who have rooted the cause of their problem have understood the significance of their Mental Health. An individual with emotional stability, build constructive interpersonal relationships with the capacity to cope with stress and everyday challenges — is mentally healthy.

In India, we mostly see people struggling with three opinions: one who finds therapy taboo, assumes that a therapist treats only critical mental disorders, and the later group are in a dilemma if therapy is worth it. Psychotherapy is defined as,

Any psychological service provided by a trained professional that primarily uses forms of communication and interaction to assess, diagnose, and treat dysfunctional emotional reactions, ways of thinking, and behavior patterns. (APA)

Mental wellness is similar to our physical well-being. Our mental state should remain healthy to perform tasks effectively, including forming healthy interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, completing a task, listening, healthy eating habits, and various other activities that an individual does in their day-to-day life. Any discrepancy in lifestyle due to unanticipated circumstances that cause depression in an individual’s emotional and psychological well-being can result in a poor mental state. Thus therapy becomes necessary to regulate normal mental well-being, making it healthy. Ignorance of mental health can disrupt mental health on higher levels causing serious consequences.

With the help of therapy, unstable mental states can be resolved, including mental instability, from lower to higher levels. Although many people associate therapy with ‘outlandish’. It is rooted in ancient medieval times, a large number of people believed that abnormality in behavior was due to the possession by evil spirits or the devil. Later in the 19th century, it led to apathy and to the belief that the insane could not be successfully treated with dignity. Although it was later resolved. Many mental health workers reinforced the idea of treating their clients empathetically. Due to past beliefs, most people hesitate with the idea of ‘therapy’. American Psychiatric Association (APA) states that, ‘about 75 percent of people who enter psychotherapy show some benefit from it ‘. It helps many individuals understand themselves and work with a different yet healthy thought process. Hence, it helps individuals be more aware of the root of their problems and issues and guides them to be mindful and resolve them using positive outlets.

Studies imply that our thought processes are linked — to the way we behave. For example, a person with negative thoughts is likely to have negative cognitive and behavioral processes like anxiety, low self-esteem, fear of failure, anti-social behavior, etc. However, a person conditioned to positive thoughts and outlets is likely to manifest positivity, a sense of purpose in life, resilience, self-confidence, better relationships, empathy, etc. Therefore, ignorance of mental wellness may lead to a pessimistic attitude and negative outlets.

In conclusion, therapy has a primary role in guiding and helping a person — objectively by reevaluating their behavior. With Psychotherapy, an individual with an unstable mental state can be assisted to work towards a healthy mental state.