Well, this is a misnomer that counseling is all about talking. Of course, it includes talking as one of the primary aspects.
But it is not just talking out! There are many other processes involved in counseling. For example, when a client is talking out his or her problem, a psychologist or a psychiatrist will find out the probable root causes of the problem or at least the triggers that are responsible for evoking certain emotions. Further, they also help the client to get certain insights about the problem.
For all these things to happen, listening has to happen with a lot of attentiveness. That is a specific skill that the mental health experts carry with them.
Active listening helps the expert in building a good rapport and hence making the client open up about all the issues that they are going through.
The expert will also find out the resources that are available for the client in their environment or the systems that they belong to.
And at the same time, the mental health expert will be able to assess the problems or the issues that the client is going through and the probable measures that have to be taken.
The mental health expert would also facilitate in chunking the issues so that it is easier to see one after another instead of looking at everything together and trying to deal with all of them at a time and it will also help in bringing in a process for the addressing the issues.
When this process sets in place, the person who is reflecting on his/her issues will get more insights into them.
Therefore, reaching out to a mental health expert has many benefits vis-a-vis friends/ family members/relatives.
However, this is not to undermine their importance in our lives. I’ll speak share my views on the importance of friends, family members as well as relatives some other time.
As we conclude, a gentle reminder is – be kind to your mind.
