By OLUFUNKE FALUYI
I recently saw a Nollywood movie. It was about a man who maltreated his wife for no reason.
Family and friends intervened, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.
The wife happened to be a pleasant woman, and I kept wondering why the man was so hostile to her.
There was a bit of relief when there was a flashback to his childhood, where it was revealed that his father used to beat his mother. In a particular scene, the father told him that when he grew up, he should emulate him by beating his wife, too!
At least one was able to identify that his behaviour was due to his childhood experience.
As it happened in the movie, a difficult or traumatic childhood significantly increases a person’s risk of developing mental illnesses in adulthood.
According to a 2018 study, there is a significant correlation between childhood trauma and major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
On several occasions, we have talked about mental health, but we have not deeply explored the power of going for therapy. So, when I saw the movie, I knew it was time.
In our lifetime, we will all experience highs and lows, fluctuations in emotions, and some challenging situations. It can often be hard to know how to navigate these experiences on your own.
If you have not been feeling like yourself lately or have questions or doubts about the way your life is going, a therapist can help you understand your feelings, thoughts, and actions, and how they affect your life. By doing so, they help you gain a sense of clarity.
Many people have the wrong idea about therapy. They think that only people who have a mental illness or are developing one need therapy, but that is not true. Everyone needs therapy! Therapy is like exercise for your mind, and therapists are the gym instructors.
So, what is talk therapy? Talk therapy, also known as psychotherapy, is a tool used by mental health professionals such as psychiatrists and psychologists to communicate with their patients.
It encourages open and honest dialogue about issues that cause distress. Through your relationship with your therapist, you work to identify and understand how these stressors are impacting your life and develop strategies to manage the symptoms.
It may serve as a safe place to discuss feelings and emotions triggered by daily stressors, relationship issues, mental health conditions, grief and loss, or the impact of a specific trauma.
The severity of your symptoms and the treatment plan your therapist develops determine how often you go to therapy and how long you continue. The frequency of sessions may decrease as you develop coping strategies and begin showing signs of improvement.
Does talk therapy work?
The success or effectiveness of psychotherapy relies on your willingness to be open to the process and be honest about what you’re feeling. It also depends on the dynamics of the patient-therapist relationship.
Mental health experts support the use of psychotherapy in treating various conditions, and research also supports its use.
For instance, a 2018 study found that early treatment with talk therapy can reduce long-term risks for serious mental health conditions in people experiencing bereavement.