Psychiatry is confusing and many people often misunderstand it, especially those who’ve never been to a professional Psychiatrist, or depression or anxiety has never been diagnosed to anyone they know. The methodology, philosophy, and science behind psychiatry can be quite tricky to understand. In this article, I will share some popular myths about consulting a psychiatrist which we have all heard.
There may be recommended product links in this post. If you click one of these links and buy, the small commission I recieve will help support me run this with depression. Thank you!
Myth No. 1: Psychiatrists Only Treat Through Medications
People believe the myths about consulting a psychiatrist without challenging them. One such example is the belief that seeing a Psychiatrist means getting “happy pills”.
People often misinterpret symptoms of stress and anxiety with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and immediately set out to see a psychiatrist in Bay Area, Boston or Belmont which hosts some of the most popular psychiatric hospitals in the US. Nevertheless, it is crucial to know the difference between depression and mental illnesses first.
Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depersonalization, bipolar disorder are mental conditions that occur due to chemical imbalances in the brain, but not all support this theory, and requires certain psychiatric medications to bring them back into their normal levels.
For symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety, instead of taking medications, a psychiatric may suggest you to control it by making some positive changes in your daily routine. Through regular exercise, meditation and self-hypnosis, it is possible to cure depression and symptoms of stress and anxiety.
Myth No. 2: Psychiatrics Don’t Promote Counselling or Talk Therapy
Counselling sessions or talk therapies are in fact, one of the most common treatments prescribed by psychiatrists. At times, psychiatrists use it as a primary treatment and often prescribe it as a complimentary treatment.
Myth No. 3: Mental Illnesses are Incurable
People who visit a psychiatrist are usually those who are already suffering from a mental illness that is affecting their overall quality of life and daily routine. When a person is suffering from a mental illness, he may be suffering from certain chemical imbalances in his brain with one or more of the following symptoms:
• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Feelings of anxiety
• Disorganized behaviour
• Confusion
• Disorganized speech
Through medications and other supportive therapies such as hypnosis, counselling and meditation, when this chemical imbalance is fixed, the mental illness is also cured. Nevertheless, there are some specific cases that involves life-long medications or monitoring.
Myth No.4: Psychiatrics Cannot Prevent Relapse of Mental Illnesses
Certain mental illnesses such as schizophrenia have high chances of getting triggered by any sudden undesirable incident, trauma or through discontinuation of any medicine without consulting a psychiatric.
Therefore, in order to prevent such relapses, it is a good idea to practice self-hypnosis and other similar mental exercises that can keep you mentally and physically strong and active. By simply talking to a friend that you trust, you can prevent such relapses.
Depression maybe hard and painful but it is certainly not something that you can’t come out of. If you are not suffering from any mental illness that needs to be treated by a professional psychiatric and want to cope with the symptoms of depression yourself, then consider the following tips…
Change Your Perception Towards Your Life Problems
Every person’s life has its own challenges, struggles and problems. The best way to combat depression is by not getting upset from such challenges. In fact, these struggles make you more brave, strong and confident. By avoiding these challenges, you can develop issues of low self-esteem that can cause depression. Therefore, you need to face these challenges with optimism and confidence.
Stay Positive
Remember this:
There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
Depression can make you feel hopeless and demotivated. The best way to beat depression is to think positive, act positive and speak positive. Make a journal and write down those things that make you feel blessed and happy in life. This will help you feel more positive and content in life.
Develop New Hobbies and Interests
One thing that I would recommend is to strengthen your faith and belief in God. Try to pray and seek for his help and guidance. By trusting in someone more powerful than yourself, you will feel more confident, optimistic and motivated in life.
By volunteering, playing sports or developing a new hobby such as reading books biographies or self-help books, you can change your attitude towards life and the world around you.
Karl Perera is a fully qualified Life Coach, Teacher and Author of