How To Seek Help for Mental Illness

Are you experiencing some challenges with your mental health? Seeking therapy is an effective and safe way to help keep your mind healthy. 

If you need counseling in Tucson, Arizona, why not reach out to In Balance Counseling? We’re standing by to help with highly trained and compassionate mental health professionals.

Keep reading to discover what to consider when you want to prioritize your mental health.

The Types of Mental Illness Treatment Providers From Which You Could Receive Help

If you want all the benefits of counseling, you need to understand who you can turn to. So, when finding a therapist or another type of mental illness treatment provider, consider the following:

  • Primary care doctors: General practitioners are what many people first think of when they hear the word ‘doctor.’ They’re capable of treating a wide variety of illnesses and can prescribe medicine for anxiety and depression.
  • Physician assistants: While some PAs hold doctoral degrees, many do not. However, they’re still qualified to treat physical and mental illnesses under a doctor’s supervision.
  • Nurse practitioners: These registered nurses obtain extra training. If they specialize in mental health, they can provide help to patients experiencing a mental health crisis.
  • Psychiatrists: As full medical doctors, psychiatrists specialize in mental health. Not only can they provide prescriptions for treatment, but they’re also qualified in talking therapy to help patients discover the emotional roots of their problems.
  • Psychologists: Because they’re not medical doctors, psychologists cannot prescribe medication. However, they still often obtain doctoral degrees in psychology and specialize in multiple forms of therapy.
  • Social workers: Do you need therapy in the context of social services? Social workers handle family trauma, parental abuse, the death of a parent, and more.
  • Psychiatric nurse specialists: These registered nurses don’t obtain the same level of training as a nurse practitioner. However, they specialize in mental illness and can provide better treatment than a generalized nurse.

What to Consider Before Seeking Treatment for Mental Health

If you’re seeking therapy, consider the following aspects before settling on someone to help you:

  • Your needs. Do you want a therapist with a specific specialty or beliefs? It’s okay to require a certain gender, culture, or religion that you identify with.
  • Accessibility. If you can’t or won’t visit a therapist in person, look for virtual options via phone or video conferencing. Many providers offer these alternatives.
  • Insurance. Does your insurance provide coverage for therapy? If so, which providers do they cover?
  • Affordability. If you don’t have adequate insurance, look for options you can afford. Look into providers with sliding scales based on income.
  • Reputation. Look at potential providers’ reviews to ascertain their effectiveness or style.

Once you know what you want, you can also reach out to friends and family, insurance providers, or general practitioners to find the treatment provider you need.

Reach Out to In Balance Counseling for Help

When you’re seeking therapy, you deserve compassionate and effective treatment that keeps your needs and daily life at the forefront. Whether you need therapy for anxiety, depression, or PTSD, In Balance Counseling can help. To book an appointment, call 520-722-9631.

9 Long-Term and Rewarding Benefits of Counseling

The proven benefits of counseling are well worth exploring, especially since life throws us curve balls from time to time. Relationship breakdowns, Social Security dependence, work-related stress, battles against substance abuse, and serious medical diagnoses are just some of the upsetting situations people may have to face. Counseling offers a way to navigate these difficulties in healthy ways so that you can keep moving forward.

As one of Tucson’s counseling service providers, we have seen countless benefits for individuals and families who go through counseling sessions. Are you unsure about signing up? Here are nine benefits to consider.

1. Enhanced Insight

Counseling sessions facilitate self-introspection. You learn more about yourself, including how actions and inactions contribute to your current mental state. Self-awareness is important, as it can hasten recovery from mental health challenges and other issues.

2. Conflict Resolution

Unsurprisingly, a trusted counselor can help you respectfully and positively resolve conflicts in your professional and personal relationships. Continuous feedback and discussion of this type may also significantly improve your interpersonal skills.

3. Space to Vent

In the counseling space, there is no room for judgment, ridicule, or shame. Counseling represents an invitation to share in a safe, non-judgmental environment. A good counselor will validate your emotions and help you feel more normal.

4. Assistance Against Self-Defeating Habits

Whether we knowingly or unknowingly develop bad habits, they contribute to our life problems without an objective counselor to bring them to light. People also become more aware of their negative emotions and thoughts during these sessions, the first step in avoiding self-defeat.

5. Improved Self-Esteem

Most people will experience self-esteem issues at some point, whether due to lacking skills,  abilities, or even appearance. One of the main benefits of counseling is that these discussions help individuals develop a stronger sense of self-compassion, self-confidence, and self-love.

6. Break Free From Harmful Vices

Are you struggling with mental health problems, anxiety, or daily stress? Counseling can help you reduce or, over time, completely avoid hiding behind drug use, alcohol, and other harmful pastimes when life gets tough.

7. More Effective Communication

When trying to face fears and anxieties, speaking to an expert can be invaluable. The counseling process can enhance your communication and social skills, providing tools to talk through problems and think more clearly about solutions. These sessions should also improve your questioning, listening, and understanding capabilities, making you a better communicator.

8. More Assured Decision Making 

Counseling can help you stay grounded when you have to make highly sensitive decisions. It can also help improve impulsive decision-making over time.

9. Better Stress Management

We all understand the huge impact of stress on physical and mental health. Managing stress levels effectively through counseling can give people a new lease on life.

Schedule That Counseling Session Today!

Counseling has a wide range of private and public benefits. You may even be doing yourself a disservice by shying away from a session due to common counseling myths or other reasons.

Don’t miss out on the many benefits of counseling programs—call In Balance Counseling at (520) 722-9631 today for sessions in Tucson, AZ, and the surrounding communities.

When Should You Get Therapy for Anxiety: Six Signs

We all have times when we feel overwhelmed, nervous, apprehensive, or exhausted. Sometimes our work or home life can get stressful and make it hard to get through the day. However, some people struggle with a generalized anxiety disorder that makes them worried or fearful for no direct reason.

Severe anxiety disorders can even manifest in physical symptoms that can be unnerving if you don’t know what’s happening to you. This blog discusses the signs that you may need therapy for anxiety. At In Balance Counseling, we provide comprehensive cognitive-behavioral therapy for people with all types of anxiety disorders. 

If you suspect you have an anxiety disorder, contact our Tucson counseling service office to discuss your treatment options by calling (520) 722-9631.

Types of Anxiety Disorders

The mental health community recognizes many forms of anxiety. Knowing someone with an anxiety problem with different symptoms than you does not make your problem any less real. Some of the most common types of anxiety disorders are:

  • Social anxiety disorder: A fear, paranoia, or panic experienced when someone attends social functions or events with many people
  • Separation anxiety: A condition that causes a child to panic or become fearful while their parents are absent
  • Panic disorder: A condition that causes frequent panic attacks that include physical symptoms
  • Agoraphobia: This condition makes sufferers uneasy in open spaces or crowds and can even render them unable to leave their homes
  • Substance-induced anxiety: People with substance abuse problems, prescription medication side effects, or sensitivity to caffeine can experience anxiety attacks

Signs You May Need Therapy for Anxiety

Below are six signs that you should consider starting therapy for anxiety.

1. Lacking Emotional Control

It’s normal to feel sad when the anniversary of a loved one’s death comes around or you miss your family during the holidays. However, you may need therapy for anxiety if you find yourself getting unreasonably sad or angry without a clear cause.

2. Your Relationships Are Suffering

People with anxiety disorders can withdraw from friends and family or lean on them too much for support. It can put a strain on your friendships and romantic relationships.

3. You’re Always Overwhelmed

Life can get stressful, but if you constantly feel like you can’t keep up, there may be more to the issue.

4. Stress Is Affecting Your Physical Health

Chronic anxiety and stress can cause physical issues like:

  • Chest pains
  • Headaches
  • Nausea
  • Trembling
  • Hyperventilating
  • Light sensitivity

If stress causes any of these in you, it’s time to consider therapy.

5. Forming Bad Habits

Using sex, alcohol, or drugs to cope with emotional or mental issues is a temporary solution that will only exacerbate things.

6. Old Hobbies and Activities Have Lost Their Appeal

People with anxiety disorders often feel detached from the real world and no longer have the drive for things that once pleased them.

Call In Balance Counseling

If you think you need therapy for anxiety, In Balance Counseling is here to help. Consult our dedicated mental health professionals if you live in the Tuscon, AZ, area. Why is cognitive behavioral therapy effective? Learn more by calling us at 520-722-9631.