At THIRA health, our focus is on mental health treatment that makes “life worth living” for our patients. We get a lot of questions, from how our treatment plans work, to general questions about mental health care, and have put together a list of answers for you.
If after reading through this list of questions, you find that we haven’t answered yours, please feel free to contact us. We want to provide you with the best information possible, about how THIRA health works, and about how mental health treatment can make a difference in peoples’ lives.
Common Questions about Mental Health Treatment
Why don’t people seek treatment for mental health?
THIRA Health realizes there are many barriers to mental health treatment.
Shame can be the first thing people feel when they realize they may need mental health treatment, and shame is a powerful de-motivator. Alongside shame, it can be hard to trust a therapist, and if you’re new to the process, therapy can feel intimidating. Being deeply vulnerable in individual or group therapy can sound impossible.
Beyond this, finding a therapist, the expense of mental healthcare, and the time required to make significant improvement, can all also be barriers to mental health treatment.
What happens if I don’t get treatment for my mental illness?
If you don’t seek treatment for your mental illness, you may find that your life feels more and more out of control. Your symptoms can escalate to a scale that disrupts your day to day life, and you may end up developing behaviors that are self destructive. Relationships with those around you can suffer, as can your financial stability. You may even find yourself more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
Overall, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to work through mental illness without some kind of support. What that support looks like is very individual, and mental health treatment is never one-size-fits-all. But deliberate care and help from your community are key components of effective mental health treatment.
Eating disorders are just about food, right? Why would you need mental healthcare for one?
Eating disorders are not just about food, but this common misunderstanding is a very real barrier to treatment. Food, being a daily part of life, ties into things like upbringing, cultural values, self-esteem, and yes, mental health. Treatment of an eating disorder must consider mental health as well as eating behavior, because in disordered eating, they are too closely tied together to separate.
Doesn’t everybody get sad or worried sometimes? Do I really need therapy?
It is true that sadness and tension or worry are normal parts of life. When the sadness becomes overwhelming, or turns to numbness, or when the tension and worry are constant, is when you want to seek out help. When your life is being disrupted, and your physical and emotional wellbeing are declining, is the exact time to seek out mental health treatment.
Please know, it’s also never too late to seek out care. Reach out, help is available.
What can long-term depression lead to?
Depression is a serious mental illness, and long-term depression can lead to symptoms such as:
- Overwhelming and ongoing feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or anxiety
- Persistent feelings of worthlessness
- Weight changes, disruptive sleep pattern changes, and aches and digestive issues that don’t go away with treatment.
- Inability to concentrate or make decisions
And finally, and most seriously,
- Suicidal thoughts or self-harm
Untreated long-term depression is very serious, but seeking help for depression will let you not only survive, but thrive.
Is it possible to learn DBT skills independently, or is professional guidance necessary?
The success of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) lies in its structure. The major parts of DBT are individual therapy, group therapy with skills building, phone support with therapists, and therapist-to-therapist support. They all work together, as parts of a whole. Trying to learn DBT skills independently may provide a small benefit for a short period of time. But for true mental health treatment success, DBT must be practiced fully, with fidelity to its overarching structure.
How long will my mental health treatment take?
Every treatment plan is individualized, so your treatment will take as long as it needs to, to ensure you get the full amount of care you need. This can seem discouraging, but it is also an opportunity to provide yourself with as much space as you need to get proper care.
THIRA Health offers a Partial Hospitalization Program for adults and teens, an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) for teens and for adults, and a Residential Program for Adolescents. The PHP and the Residential Program require larger time commitments each day, with 6-10 hours of individual and group therapy per day, plus nutritional support. THIRA Health’s IOP programs require 2-3 hours a day of participation, 5 days a week.
This time commitment allows for a great deal of treatment to happen in a relatively short number of days, giving you swift intervention and a substantial support system right away.
How can THIRA Health help me?
When lost in mental illness, relationships suffer, your connection to yourself suffers, and life can feel bleak and hopeless.
Treatment can give you the tools and community to bring back the will to live. Building skills to manage your symptoms and navigate life can bring you back to the activities and self-value that allow you to feel joy, to weather life’s storms, and to overall feel that life is indeed worth living.
We offer unique program structures and dedicated, intensive DBT programs to our patients for issues such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. We work in warm, welcoming, supportive spaces that facilitate safety and healing. Consider getting in touch with us today to see how our programs can benefit you.
