Several people experience pain, and trauma that some have taken the wrong path of suicide, while others are broken and have no idea whether to seek for therapy and counseling or not. The question is, at what point does someone tell that they actually need therapy?
Christella Ishimwe, a clinical psychologist at mHub Rwanda, a mental health clinic in Kigali notes that therapy helps with many difficulties, some of these are; emergencies or mental disorders, others are not emergencies but are changes you need as a way to make your life more meaningful and fulfilling, some of them include; anxiety, depression, panic, feelings of emptiness, addiction, loss of a loved one, job loss, burnout, and sexual difficulties.
"Others may be; self-doubt, family or marriage difficulties, feelings of helplessness or hopelessness, difficulties to concentrate, physical illnesses that doesn’t find any physical cause, maladaptive behaviors, intrusive feelings and thoughts, disturbance in sleep or eating habits, feelings of shame, guilt, worry, repetitive problems, particularly in relationships, inability to control anger, frustration, and aggressiveness,” she says.
Celestin Mutuyimana, a clinical psychologist at Baho-Ubudaheranwa Clinic, Gikondo, further notes that one can tell that they need therapy and counseling if they find trouble in communication indicated by aggressiveness, lack of assertiveness, problems in relationships (both intimate and marital), issues in parenting style ( harsh punishment, overprotection, and lack of parenting skills).
He highlights that some people have emotional signs and symptoms like sadness, and isolation, while others have somatic symptoms without biological causes like, chronic headache, backache, nerves pain, sleeping disorders, eye disease, joint disease, and many more.
"Other people experience symptoms of deception or lack of goals in their lives, for example, children who start to misbehave or perform poorly at school without reason, drug use or excessive alcohol use, and people with past traumatic experiences. The list is not exhaustive, but such people are in need of psychosocial care,” Mutuyimana states.
The clinical psychologist carries on that some of the tips to find a good clinical psychologist or therapist is ensuring that they have a license to work. For her, even though a owning a license only doesn’t mean that your clinical psychologist or therapist is a good one, it is an important document to consider when choosing the one to work with as this document lets you know that they at least meet certain minimum standards.
Ishimwe explains that experience and orientation are key, for instance, when your clinical psychologist or therapist has more experience or is oriented in difficulties you are facing, they will have a clear sense of what to expect, what works and what to avoid and how they can help you best.
She adds that the orientation of your clinical psychologist or therapist might be specialties he or she may have to work on trauma, loss, depression, parenting, adolescent or children counseling, infertility, or others.
Ishimwe adds that the trust you have with your clinical psychologist or therapist is a very important predictor of a positive outcome in therapy, it is important to choose the one you want to work with considering the one you can trust the most.
According to Mutuyimana, people can access therapy through different ways. The very commonly used include; meeting a psychotherapist or counselor in an individual session or group session or family session.
He explains that you can also meet with a psychotherapist online through video or text message, self-help therapy by using internet based psychotherapy intervention, and community based psychotherapy with a local trained counselor or mentor.
Mutuyimana stresses that there are multiple consequences of not getting therapy and some of these include; problems in relationships, issues in communication skills, lack of coping strategies, not being able to achieve personal goals, loss of self-confidence and taste of life, being a slave of past traumatic experience and increased level of mental diseases like depression and anxiety with the risk of suicide or chronicity.