When you get a heart disease, a Cardiologist would be your first preference. Similarly, when you feel slight discomfort with your mental health, Mental Health Professionals / Practitioner would be the one who could intervene and support you. Even if it sounds like a narrow field, it is as broad as any other.
Mental Health Professionals
There are various types of mental health practitioners who provide different services to people with different problems.
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Psychologist
An expert in the field of Psychology and a trained person who can impact the lives of many people through different approaches like CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) & DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy). Psychologists cannot provide medications to a person because they do not have a medical degree. Primarily, the focus is on psychological first aid through communication & psychological tests.
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Counsellor
A Counsellor is also a Mental Health Practitioner who advises and counsels a person, or a group of people, together in a controlled environment. There can be marriage or relationship counsellors, rehabilitation counsellors, and genetic counsellors as well, who are responsible for individual or group therapy.
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Social Workers
India is home to countless non-profit organisations. Social Work is a broad field that includes everything from unprivileged children to rehabilitation centers. An intersection of psychology, and social work can lead to a self-satisfying career. They work in a wide range of areas and provide help to people with mental illnesses.
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Psychiatrist
A Psychiatrist is a doctor who can prescribe medications to people with certain disorders. Psychiatrists have a medical degree, and an overall idea of the working of the human body because they need to assess the side effects of certain medications on the different parts of the body.
According to Stonebridge.com, mental health workers plan and lead individual, family, couple, or group therapy to address the individual’s issues. They can also develop and lead focused group activities. They closely monitor their clients, looking out for changes in behavioural patterns as well as make reports on their moods, mental alertness, aggression, sleeping habits and eating patterns.
Even if there are many more professionals in the field of mental health, everybody can be grouped mainly into these 4. But you may ask, well, what is the need of so many people for just something as minute as mental support?
Mental health diseases can range from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to something as dangerous as borderline personality disorder (BPD) and Schizophrenia which has the power to consume the individual as well as the ones surrounding him. Someone who specializes in marriage counselling cannot treat schizophrenia, hence the division of work.
Generally, disorders that need sessions of therapy can be seen after by a Clinical Psychologist, whereas serious illnesses can be treated by medication which are normally dealt by Psychiatrists.
Awareness
Awareness is a really necessary step in an individual’s understanding of which mental health professional one should choose. Next time you are referring your friend to a Psychiatrist for anxiety, maybe tell them to consult a Psychologist first!
Professionals in the field of mental health work with both individuals and groups of people to enhance their mental health or to treat illnesses or disorders of the mind, such as persistent depression, anxiety disorders, paranoia, panic attacks, etc. The absence of such mental disorders might be referred to as mental health.
There are a number of reasons why we Indians would be less likely to seek counseling, including the fact that access to mental healthcare is scarce. It is impossible to exaggerate how important it is to have a strong support structure inside the family when coping with mental diseases.
Learn more: Mental Health Awareness
& Mobile Phone Addiction & Teenagers
Samarpita Nayak, Co-Founder & Counsellor, Your Confidant
