The Perfect Partners: Psychiatric Diagnosis and Therapy

Psychiatry and therapy are very different types of help and support for mental health issues, and they can work together surprisingly well.

Medication given by a psychiatrist might help us control emotions and perhaps even our thoughts, but it doesn’t help us to understand ourselves or develop strategies to manage our inner experiences of life.

A psychiatric assessment will help psychiatrists decide which medication is best suited to us and our symptoms and which will help to stabilise our life.

Building a bridge between two opposites can result in dramatic effects.

Source: Edho Fitrah at Unsplash

The majority of therapeutic disciplines believe our symptoms are caused by our experiences in life. Therapists are trained to know how to explore these with us, while also helping us develop coping strategies. This makes therapy a perfect companion to a psychiatric diagnosis.

As well as exploring our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, relationships and preoccupations, a therapist will want to ask questions about:

• What led to the diagnosis?
• What was it like for us to have a diagnosis?
• What was our reaction to the diagnosis?
• How has the diagnosis affected us, our friendships, and our family relationships?
• What do we personally think of the diagnosis?
• How has it been helpful and how has it not been so helpful?

The benefits of a therapeutic team

When we have a psychiatric diagnosis, we need to work with a highly trained therapist who is experienced in working with extensive psychological issues and who may be able to collaborate with our psychiatrist.

Therapy can be a more complete experience when professionals who are involved with our life, diagnosis, and therapy work together perhaps as part of a treatment programme or a therapeutic team. They may work with us in different ways, but if their aim is the same, the help and support they provide will be more effective.

Safety in therapy

Therapists have many considerations that are working in the back of their minds and depending on our background, our therapist might want to talk with us about additional boundaries that will keep us safe outside of therapy. They might be considering:

• What effect will our explorations have after we leave the session?
• Are we in any way at risk?
• Will the explorations cause us further upset?
• Is it the right time for therapy or do we need a little preparation first?
• Are strategies for coping outside of the sessions needed?

Other considerations in therapy

A big part of therapy is about exploring our inner life. This can take us to places we didn’t realize existed and sometimes we inadvertently remember old experiences. Our therapist will be able to help us work through whatever comes up for us, with empathy and compassion they will enable us to develop our understanding of ourselves.

There are of course many areas of our life a therapist will help us to consider in therapy, here are some of them:

• The support of family or friends can play a vital role while we work through therapy, especially if we have a psychiatric condition.
• Keeping physically safe between sessions might be a conversation we will need to have too. Therapists are likely to be able to talk with us about the best way to manage any potential risk to our physical safety.
• Whatever experiences we have between sessions, our therapist will want to know and will work with us to improve how we manage our symptoms. If our therapist doesn’t know what is happening in our life, it becomes difficult for them to help us.
• A therapist working independently may want to know if other professionals are involved with our treatment and what role they play.
• Other relationships, especially if these are volatile or if they pose any risk to us, are especially important to talk about with our therapist.
• We need to talk about anything that potentially has a risk element to it. For example, self-harm or self-medicating with alcohol or drugs, or issues with eating and food.

Not the end, but the beginning

A psychiatric diagnosis is not the end. It can be the beginning of the journey to a calmer inner world and broader life experiences. Therapy is a crucial key to working with the causes of our symptoms and opening up a future where we can find some contentment and balance in our lives and relationships. While we might have to learn to live with a mental health condition, our life can become a more pleasant place to be if we seek the therapy we need.

To find a therapist, please visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.