Why Therapy is Important
There are many reasons why we advocate that therapy should be accessible to everyone.
1. Therapy helps people who struggle with Mental Illness.
Mental health is health. When people are physically sick, they see a doctor, and might get medications and surgeries. Similarly, psychotherapy plays an important role in treating people who are suffering from mental illnesses: Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Addiction Problems - just to name a few of them. The list can go on.
Dealing with mental illness is not easy. Without proper treatment, it will significantly impact people's ability to function and their quality of life. Even further, it might result in self-harm behaviors, suicidal thoughts and attempts, and harming others. That's the reason we advocate that therapy should be accessible to everyone – Health is a fundamental human right, and everyone can get sick one day.
2. Therapy Benefits People Who are Free of Mental Illness
A common misconception is that only people who are mentally ill go to therapy. People who are free of mental illnesses can also benefit from therapy. Therapy can help people deal with daily stress, relationship issues, or even simply provide a safe place to talk. After all, we are all humans and have ups and downs. Sometimes we just need to talk to a non-judgemental person and feel better.
In addition, therapy can act as an effective prevention tool – To reduce the chance that a temporary situation turns into a long-term mental illness. For example, if a stressed person doesn’t have a place to process their stress properly, the stress accumulates over time, the person might end up having clinical depression. Disease prevention is always more cost-effective than treating the disease.
3. Therapy is Unique
How about going to see a psychiatrist for mental illness? Why not talking to a trusted family member? Indeed, it is equally important to have access to mental health doctors and social support, whether for people with or without mental illness. Still, therapy has its uniqueness in the mental health care system.
First, a psychiatrist plays a different role – More for giving diagnoses and prescribe medications. Second, talking to a therapist is also unlike talking to a family member: Therapists are professionally trained; The client and therapist have boundary between each other; Therapists are not personally involved like friends/family members; There is a confidentiality agreement in place. All the factors enable the person to get more professional help compared to talking to friends or families.