Don’t Let Embarrassment Or Shame Prevent You From Seeking The Help Of A Mental Health

The body-mind connection is an important part of understanding many medical maladies. A person’s body responds to the way he or she thinks feels and acts, and when he or she is felling under stress, worried or upset, the body tries to tell the person something is wrong. For example, high blood pressure or a headache may develop after a particularly stressful event, such as being laid off at work or experience a traffic accident. The following also may be physical signs that one’s emotional health is out of balance:

• Back pain
• Change in appetite
• Chest pain
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Dry mouth
• Extreme tiredness
• Insomnia (trouble sleeping)
• Lightheadedness
• Palpitations (the feeling that your heart is racing)
• Sexual problems
• Shortness of breath
• Stiff neck
• Concentration problems

Many people have difficulty in accepting the fact that physical problems may be related to emotions. This unwillingness to admit the correlation between physical problems and psychological causes often centers on the stigma associated with admitting to psychological difficulties and seeking help.

There are various types of consultation and counseling available for individuals seeking help is often a good solution.
For example, an employee asks a supervisor or fellow employee how to perform a task more efficiently or how he or she copes with the stresses of the workplace.

A shopper may ask the grocer about a product, consult a pharmacist about a medication or discuss business or legal issues with an accountant or attorney.

Mental health practitioners use psychotherapy and/ or medications to help people deal with emotional needs
These same individuals frequently have families, are part of the community where they work, and may also encounter many of the problems that their patients and clients face.

Effective therapists demonstrate a caring attitude, understanding and trustworthiness and an unbiased approach to the issues at hand. These approaches enable individuals to reduce stress and improve their mental health.

Research in universities and medical schools has yielded new techniques to make treatment more effective and helpful. Mental health professionals also are searching for ways to helping the public overcome the fear of seeking help from a mental health professional.

Public figures, entertainers and those in other helping professions have also helped remove much of the stigma once attached to seeking help from a professional counselor and many are benefiting from this change.