What is Your Mental Health Worth

In the 21st century there are still people who believe a person only goes to a mental health professional when there is nothing else that can be done for them. First we go to a doctor when symptoms of depression are bothering us. An obvious reaction of the doctor treating the patient is to give him or her anti-depressants. Although they might work for some people but anti-depressants are not suppose to be taken for prolonged times. Nevertheless most people do take them for years and some people never stop taking them.

Another way of treating mental health issues is to talk to a professional like a counsellor or a psychotherapist. There are only minor differences between them, but in some cases they overlap each other. A counsellor could have done a short counselling course, while a psychotherapist usually has a diploma or a degree in counselling and psychotherapy. 

The difference between counselling and psychotherapy is that in most cases counselling is brief, say less than 10  one hour session and psychotherapy can take up much longer. Again there are grey areas.

A popular form of counselling is life coaching; with the help of a life coach a person can sort out their situation or future and is assisted in making decisions.  There are many other reasons why a person wants to seek counsel from a professional such as;

• career guidance
• a bereavement
• decision making
• getting to terms with an illness
• learning social skills
• Academic problems
• Concentrating difficulties
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Low self esteem
• Problems at work or school and one is send by employer or school
• Eating disorders/problems
• Stress
• Confusion about sexual identity
• fear of failure or under achievement
• Anger and or agitation

A new form of counselling was launched in the early days of the Internet some 12 years ago. People who didn’t have the time or possibility to go to a therapist could now consult a counsellor via the Net. And so Online Counselling or Cyber Counselling was born. I named a few positives of online counselling already above other pre’s are:

• cost effective
• the client can stay at home in his or her own safe environment
• the client can access counselling without thresholds   
• the client can choose email, chat or face the counsellor via a video connection
• the client can contact a counsellor from the other side of the world and have sessions any time of the day or night

Online counselling is confidential and as safe as face to face counselling.  There is Christian online counselling, budget online counselling, normal individual online counselling – usually crewd by one or two counsellors, or e-clinics – which might be organisations like the Samaritans (they are only there to listening, they are not counsellors) or a commercial organisation. The latter are in general less personal and to build up a relationship with one of the counsellors will be harder than with an individual counsellor. 

People who have tried  Online-Counselling say it’s like keeping a journal. You can write at length, and explore your thoughts and feelings in depth. Of course the difference is that a trained professional is reading and responding to you – most journals don’t talk back!