Mental Health Therapy

If you are interested in Mental Health Therapy, you most likely have a friend of family member in need of mental health services or you are considering it for youself. Hopefully, mental health therapy can provide you with some basic information about mental health services and treatments and help you find the resources you are hoping to find. Everyone has periods of trial in their lives and mental health therapy, services and treatments are designed to address the issues that can come from those trials.

"Almost everyone has at least one depression in their lifetime. Treatment helped me get over it faster."

Mental Health Therapy is available in a variety of forms and treatments. Common forms of therapy include Art Therapy, Behavioral Therapy, Exposure Therapy, Aversive Therapy, Role-Playing, Self-Monitoring, Cognitive Therapy, CAM (Complimentary Alternative Medicines), EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing), Electroconvulsive Therapy, Individual Therapy, Family or Couples Therapy, Group Therapy, Pharmacological Therapy, Play Therapy, Psychoanalytic Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy and Psycho-educational Therapy.

Therapies are often used in combinations with one another, and are selected based on mental health assessments. The US Center for Disease and Control (www.cdc.gov) reports "1 in 5 people will experience mental illness in a given year". The American Psychoanalytic Association reported in June 2007 that 1/3 of the Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will have serious social and mental health disorders. Another study done in June 2007 by the University of Michigan claims more than half of typical college students have symptoms of depression or anxiety and are in need of help. Mental Treatment is available, but it needs to be utilized.

Mental Health Treatment and Services location information is available at the US Department of Health and Human Services SAMSHA National Mental Health Information Center website at http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/databases/default.asp. This website has a user-friendly map, and all you have to do is click on your state to find a mental health treatment center near you, as well as other resourceful links. It will also let you further your selections by choosing what type of mental health services you would prefer, such as inpatient, outpatient, residential or a combination. Mental health programs also include community, rehabilitation, employment, wellness, and spiritual programs to enhance the mental health treatment.

Classes of mental illnesses that are most often treated include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance disorders, psychotic disorders, cognitive disorders, developmental disorders, personality disorders, and other disorders (which include compulsive eating, impulse control, etc.). Since there is no official definition of "normal," signs and symptom determine the existence of a mental illness. Symptoms might be thoughts, or actual difficulties in functioning. If you think you might be suffering from a mental illness, you should try and keep a journal of your thoughts and difficulties so that it might help your provider determine the best medical health treatment services plan for you.

Mental health therapy and treatment programs differ as much as individuals themselves. If you or someone you know is in need of mental health services or programs, then visit the SAMSHA website and find what treatment is available in your area.