What is Mental health and Who can help

Are you having stress or anger  issues, or do you think you have chronic depression or do you have a mental condition that you are not sure how to label? Chances are that you are not sure whom to go to. There are plenty of terms that will float around - Counsellor, Therapist, Counselling Psychologist or Clinical Psychologist, coach?? 
Anyone is bound to be totally confused! 
In order to make an informed decision, it is better to gather some details: 
Let’s first talk about mental health and what it is:
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act; it also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make important life choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life - from childhood and adolescence all the way through adulthood.
Over the course of life, if we experience mental health problems, our thinking, mood, and behaviour could be affected. Many factors contribute to mental health problems, including:
  • Biological factors, such as genetics or brain chemistry
  • Unpleasant events in life, such as trauma or abuse
  • Family history of mental health problems
It can be you or someone else in your sphere, experiencing any of the following issues, which could be an early warning sign of a problem and ideally these should be diagnosed by an experienced psychologist. However, some of the symptoms that you too can observe, include:
  • Eating or sleeping too much or too little
  • Pulling away from people and usual activities
  • Having low or no energy
  • Feeling numb/heavy in head or indifferent 
  • Having unexplained aches and pains
  • Feeling helpless or hopeless and not feeling interested in life
  • Smoking, drinking or using drugs more than usual
  • Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried or scared
  • Yelling or fighting with family and friends - an otherwise out of the ordinary practice 
  • Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
  • Having persistent thoughts and memories you can't get out of your head
  • Hearing voices or believing things that are not true
  • Thinking of harming yourself or others or extreme thoughts of suicide 
  • Feeling dysfunctional during daily tasks like taking care of your children, responsibilities or chores or getting to work or school
 
If you are wondering how positive mental health can help, here’s how: 
  • It can help you realise your full potential
  • It can help cope, deal with or resolve the stresses of life
  • It can improve overall productivity 
  • It can allow you to be more meaningful, and contribute to the community in a positive manner. 
There are those who ask why should we go looking for experienced psychologists, or why we should consider talking to professional counsellors; here are just some of the ways in which professionals could help you: 
  • Getting professional help if you need it
  • Maintaining proper sleep routine and sleep hygiene 
  • Knowing yourself and working on emotional muscles
  • Connecting with others, reaching out to people and talking it out
  • Putting conscious efforts to stay positive
  • Giving time to physical health 
  • Helping others       ( *Source: mentalhealth.gov)
It is imperative that you understand that there are several practitioners under the umbrella of mental health and each plays a different role in offering you help and treatment. 
Who is a counsellor?
The term counselor tends to generally refer to a professional trained in the fields of psychology, counselling, social work, or other medical fields such as nursing. Mental health counsellors, specifically, are those professionals working in a mental health capacity. 
Mental health counsellors could perform a range of functions ranging from conducting patient evaluations, providing education and informational resources to their clients, making suggestions that the client or patient can use to solve the problem they are seeking counselling to address. Often, mental health counsellors will specialize in addressing a particular issue, such as substance abuse, sexual abuse, marriage and relationships, or family counselling. 
 
Who is a therapist?
Although going to a therapist has become quite the trend in the western world, it's still a new concept in India. A therapist is a professional who is trained to provide some form of therapy to a patient or client - these could include both mental and physical disorders. Some of the most common therapists include physical therapists, occupational therapists and in the context of mental health, there are mental health therapists as well as psychotherapists.
As is with counsellors, therapists will often specialize in addressing particular client issues, such as marriage and family issues, substance abuse, etc. 
 
Who is a psychologist?
Another common job title within mental health counselling is that of a psychologist. Whereas therapists and counsellors may be considered more alike than different, the difference is more pronounced for psychologists.
While a professional psychologist also works at improving their patients’ mental and emotional health like counselors or therapists, their techniques and frameworks tend to differ. Additionally, psychologists are often the choice to treat patients with severe mental disorders.
(Sources - northeastern.edu)
 
What is the difference between Clinical Psychology and Counselling Psychology?
  • Clinical psychology often deals with the more serious mental health issues like psychotic disorders and mentally ill people. Counselling psychology is more involved with personality issues, milder mental conditions and deals with relatively healthy populations.
  • Clinical psychology normally involves medical assessments, diagnoses, medical treatments and prescription of drugs. Counselling psychology involves advice, discussion sessions, exercises and training.
  • Clinical psychology applications are carried out by highly qualified psychiatrists and doctors while counselling psychology applications are carried out by trained counsellors.
  • Clinical psychology has a close connection with the field of medicine while counselling psychology has a close connection with sociology and humanities.
  • Clinical psychology focuses on cure while counselling psychology focuses on preventive action.
(Source - https://www.differencebetween.com/)
 
Once you have understood the difference between all the mental health experts and their areas of specialisation, choosing the appropriate expert for you should be a lot easier. However, before reaching out to the first mental health expert you find, take the time to understand your symptoms and observe the patterns. You need to ask plenty of questions, clarify all your doubts and of course consider how much of a financial burden it might cause. For your mental health professional, you should be the first priority and if at any time, you no longer feel comfortable, you have all the right to leave. 
 
Mental health issues are a lot more common than most people think, but help is always around. Recovery is real - all you need to do is speak up and ask for help!