Frequently Asked Questions About Mental Health

I believe that the negative things that have been happening in my life result from the bad decisions I make. I understand, for sure, that no matter how much I try my best to stay positive about everything, there will be those moments that uncertainties wrap me in. With that, I know that my emotional and mental state is not that safe from all the depressing things that I genuinely want to avoid. And despite knowing a lot of helpful information, I know I am not exempted from the mental damage from all the stressors surrounding me.

I won’t say that I am psychologically tough just because I am good at managing my mental health. Honestly, there are things I can’t control. Sometimes, when things get too overwhelming, I push people away, get confused, make wrong moves, and forget to take care of myself. However, I don’t think these instances are a better excuse to make me take my mental and emotional health for granted. I still choose to get better. I don’t want negative things to destroy me because I don’t like it when I am isolated, anxious, stressed, and depressed.

So if you would ask me what’s the secret to staying emotionally and mentally healthy despite dealing with all sorts of emotional and mental torture, allow the answers from these frequently asked questions to guide you.

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How is the brain affected by mental illnesses?

Experts believe that mental illnesses result from communication problems between the neurotransmissions in the brain. When the neurotransmitter serotonin tends to lower down, it disrupts the brain’s function, especially when individuals suffer from depression.

That explains why mental illness can lead to confusion of the information process sing of the brain. Thus, it results in abnormal thinking, perception, mood, and behavior. It would be best to pay attention to the sudden changes in feelings, thoughts, and actions to seek professional help immediately.

 Does psychology help mental illness?

Yes. Psychologists are professionals trained to treat the most serious mental health disorders by assisting and prescribing necessary medications. But their assistance does not end there since they also help people in all aspects of daily life through therapy. These include caring for elderly parents, self-care, parenting, other family matters, or sexual issues.

Therapy is one the most widely used type of treatment that promises to deal with almost all sorts of mental illnesses. But before engaging in the method, people should realize the importance of seeking the right individual that knows how to work best with his job and client relationship.

 Is mental illness a disease?

For a start, mental illness is not a disease but rather a medical problem. Mental illnesses are health conditions concerning sudden changes in emotion, thoughts, or behavior, or a combination of the three. A mental illness is a common state associated with stress and problems functioning in social, work, or family activities.

 Is there a difference between mental illness and mental disorder?

Yes, mental illness is a psychological problem that affects how a person thinks, behaves, and interacts with people. It contains a group of conditions that are often diagnosed through clinical tests with standard criteria. However, the term ‘mental disorder’ relates to the same health problems accompanied by specific signs and symptoms.

But regardless of what the individual has, may it be a mental illness or a mental disorder, it is advisable to seek immediate professional help. The person should take the initiative to know his condition and aim for a diagnosis to get proper mental health treatment.

 What are the five signs of mental illness?

The five warning signs of mental illness include long-lasting grief or irritability, unwarranted fear, worry, anxiety, social withdrawal, and remarkably high and low unregulated moods. It also creates dramatic changes in eating or sleeping habits.

But note that some of these signs can be accompanied by other health problems such as headaches, muscle pain, difficulty breathing, etc. If these mental illness signs show physical manifestations, immediately consult a healthcare provider.

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What psychology deals with depression?

Psychology deals with depression by understanding mood or emotional disposition characterized by feelings of guilt and low self-worth. These aspects are the main focus as they intend to reduce a person’s ability to enjoy life.

Psychology explains the danger of too much negativity as it increases the damage of anxiety, stress, and depression.

 How can you help someone mentally?

Here are some of the usual strategies that you can do to help someone mentally. First, listen without making judgments and focus on the persons’ emotional needs at that moment. Second, ask them what would help them in particular, but make sure to avoid confrontation. Try to ask if there is someone they would like you to contact so they can feel comfortable opening up.

Acknowledge and do not push it too hard. Avoid forcing solutions to the mentally ill person, especially if he is not doing anything. Give the individual a space to understand his mental situation so that he manages to deal with it gradually.

 What are the things you should not say to a mentally ill person?

A mentally ill person is way too sensitive. It would be best if you didn’t say these words: “It’s all in your head.”, “Snap out of it!” “This too shall pass.”, “it’s normal.” or “It’s all part of God’s plan.” These words will hurt their feelings and make them think that what they are going through is invalidating.

Please pay close attention to your words. If you do not understand what the person is going through, better not say anything to reassure him that you know what he’s dealing with and know what you are talking about. Be mindful that even if you think the similarity of both your situation is there, you cannot guarantee the person of full understanding because your reasons and triggers are different to begin with.

 How do you deal with a mentally unstable person?

An unstable person can be quite complicated to handle. It is significantly important to stay informed about his/her mental condition. You should develop a helpful approach and encourage the person to seek professional help. Respect them and do not enforce positivity towards their suffering. You can express your feelings but know your limits.

Remember not to comment on stuff when you are not sure of what you are talking about. And if you can’t say anything nice, do yourself a favor and don’t say anything.

 What causes mental illness?

There is tons of possible cause of mental illnesses. It could be by a reaction to biochemical imbalances in the brain, genes and family history, environmental stress, history of abuse in childhood, brain injury, etc. Or it could be a combination of all of these.

 What is the rarest mental illness?

The rarest mental illness is called Apotemnophilia or also known as body integrity identity disorder. It is regarded as the irresistible need to amputate healthy human body parts. There are not many known facts about this disorder, but it is believed to be a neurological condition.

 Can you be born mentally ill?

No. Though susceptibility to various mental disorders, such as bipolar mood disorder, can run in families, it does not guarantee to get determined right after birth. That is because most people develop mental illness even without a family history of the condition.

 Is mental illness permanent?

Unfortunately, there are mental illnesses that tend to be permanent. However, some effective medications and treatments can help aid the signs and symptoms to help people recover and live healthy lives.

 What is the hardest mental illness to live with?

One of the hardest mental illnesses a person has to live with is Borderline personality disorder. It is an illness that manifests in an ongoing pattern of self-image issues, varying moods, and negative behaviors. Borderline personality disorder’s symptoms often result in impulsive actions that cause problems in relationships with other people.

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 What is poor mental health?

Poor mental health can be a lot of things. It can be difficult for most individuals to manage how they think, feel, and act concerning daily stresses. It is where people experience incessant episodes of sadness, emptiness, anxiety, and depression.

 At what age does mental illness start?

Almost fifty percent of people’s mental illness begins at the age of 14. However, others start to experience it by age 24.

 Is mental illness permanent?

Some people may only experience quite a few episodes of mental illness. It might only last a few days, weeks, or months. However, there are those others who have long-term conditions which do not go away. There is no cure for mental illness, and people experiencing it have to deal with mental torture for a long time.

Insight

Having poor mental health is not scary, and it does not mean you are crazy. You are only mentally unstable yet functioning. It is vital to realize that even if you are dealing with a psychological problem, you can always find better ways to cope with it and live your life according to your desire.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About Psychoanalysis Therapy

People tend to discount the dreams they experience while asleep. Little do they know that dreams are a representation of actual desires and needs. Well, this is according to Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. 

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He developed psychoanalysis to study the unconscious and conscious mind of a person. One of his techniques was dream interpretation. He asks the patients to discuss their dreams. Through that, he works to figure out what it meant for them. Freud even had a list of what certain things meant. For example, dreams can mean something sexual. A phallic-shaped or a womb shape in your dream might tell multiple messages. But it usually falls under the category of sex. 

Basically, psychoanalysis aims to pull the unconscious mind into the conscious. It seeks to identify the repressed issues causing current problems. Determining these underlying causes can be quite tricky, especially because the patients are also unaware of them.

Psychoanalysis therapy, according to Freud, typically takes time. The narration of childhood experiences and dreams may take up some sessions to complete. This type of treatment often takes years to finish.

However, there is no single definition for psychoanalysis. Stepping out of Freud’s thinking of psychoanalysis, this concept tends to vary between different experts.

Carl Jung has his archetypes, Erik Erikson, with his development stages, Karen Horney, for her neurotic needs. These psychologists formed works that drew away from Freud’s thinking and in an attempt to develop better psychological theory. 

If you want to know more about psychoanalysis, read the FAQs below.

What is psychoanalysis in simple terms?

Psychoanalysis refers to a set of psychological theories and therapies responsible for treating mental health illnesses. It involves investigating the interaction of the conscious and unconscious factors in the mind. The approach focuses on resurfacing repressed conflicts and fears to the conscious mind. Psychoanalysis uses techniques like free association and dream interpretation.

What is used in psychoanalysis?

Psychoanalysis brings the buried feelings, thoughts, and emotions to the conscious mind. During the sessions, you will discuss significant bad experiences from the past. These adverse events may have affected your behavior, thinking, and relationship. From here, you’ll work towards developing a healthy coping mechanism. It aims to eliminate excess baggage that may affect future relationships and ways of living.

What are psychoanalytic concepts?

Psychoanalytic concepts involve dividing the mind into three components:

  1. Id
  2. Ego
  3. Superego

The id is considered the most primitive among the three. It relies on instant gratification based on physical urges and needs. Meanwhile, the superego mainly focuses on social rules and morals. It revolves around a moral compass and conscience. These things dictate what is right or wrong. Lastly, the ego is the pragmatic and rational part. It is a combination of the conscious and unconscious.

What is the psychoanalytic approach?

The psychoanalytic approach revolves around the idea of touching the unconscious mind more than the conscious mind. It came from the foundational belief that your past experiences affect your actions and behaviors. With this, the trip to psychoanalysis should pass by these four basic components:

  1. interpretation,
  2. transference analysis,
  3. technical neutrality, and
  4. countertransference analysis.

What is the goal of psychoanalysis?

Psychoanalysis aims to make the client aware of the unconscious mind and pick up patterns from here. The feelings, thinking, and behavior you get from here should be studied and checked. It is essential to evaluate whether they are still helpful to your life now. If they are not, then psychoanalysis will help eliminate it from your unconscious mind. It is the best approach for those coping with problems in relationships, satisfaction, among others.

Is Psychoanalysis used today?

Yes, psychoanalysis is still around. However, psychoanalytic treatments are more expensive compared to other mental health treatments in the market.

What is wrong with psychoanalysis?

It has no scientific evidence with the presented ideas. The sole proof of this only relies on case studies. No known experiments happened to prove this. Another problem is it focuses too much on childhood development. Its concept reveals that the unconscious mind works depending on past experiences. However, not all patients have undergone trauma during their childhood.

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Is a psychoanalyst a doctor?

Not all psychoanalysts are doctors. Some of them are professionals who have a Ph.D. or master’s degree in social work or psychology. However, there are also psychiatrists with DO degrees or MD who get into this therapeutic landscape.

Does psychoanalysis really work?

According to experts, psychoanalysis works if there are bottled-up trauma and problems from the past. However, other therapeutic approaches may be more apt for you if your issues do not house these.

How does one become a psychoanalyst?

The only way to become a psychoanalyst is to complete the psychoanalytic training program by the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA). Before this, you need experience as either a clinical social worker, clinical therapist, or clinical counselor. Keep in mind that this area also accepts other professionals who have outstanding qualifications. It does not matter whether they have social work or psychology degrees. They are accepted on a case-to-case basis.

How much money does a psychoanalyst make?

A psychoanalyst’s salary varies significantly. The pay ranges from $60,000 to $160,000 per year. Some of the highest paying states are New Jersey, Rhode Islands, and California, where they make as much as $100,000 per year.

Conclusion

Psychoanalysis might not be used that often anymore. But this theory opened up more discussions on the unconscious and conscious mind. Freud discussed that the unconscious mind is filled with repressed thoughts and feelings. These are often unpleasant, difficult, and not socially accepted. Although Freud connects it to something sexual, it may go further than that. 

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When we feel anger and sadness, our instincts have always been to hide it away or to push it down. No one wants to see an angered person bellow and shout. These negative emotions are not meant to be showcased in public. But by repressing it, it falls into the unconscious mind. We work to ignore it.

However, as time goes by, the hole you dug for hiding these thoughts may fill up. It may come to the point where it can no longer contain your emotions. Eventually, it manifests as these mental health conditions.

Because of these many bottled-up emotions, many theories emerged to help uncorked them. By laying out these emotions, it will be easier to control and manage them. 

One of the therapies that do that is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). This type of psychotherapy helps people who are suffering from anger issues. It enables the patient to become more aware of what they are feeling. Furthermore, it offers ways to identify the triggers. Through this, patients get to respond to it better. 

Anger issues might be a symptom of a mental health problem, with which CBT will help see-through. Some of the common underlying mental disorders that initially manifest as anger are depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or bipolar. If there are indeed more serious problems, the therapy has many various techniques. These methods can help the patient to understand themselves better and manage the condition. 

Although psychoanalysis is not as relevant today as it used to be, it will always remain an important foundation of psychology.