MENTAL HEALTH CARE

Counseling vs Medication or Both 

If you are struggling with your mental health and have begun to think about asking for help, you might wonder what is the best way to get started: therapy, medication, or both. While this is a choice everyone needs to make for themselves, here are some considerations:

Therapy/Counseling is very effective for most mental health challenges.  It is a good starting point for people struggling with milder forms of depression and/or anxiety, or for people who are troubled with a significant life transition or ongoing situational stress.  It is also beneficial for helping to heal from trauma or in managing obsessive compulsive disorder.  Therapy does require work between counseling sessions to get the most benefit, and it does take time, but the skills and perspective shifts learned allow for resiliency and better mental health, long after therapy ends.

Medication for mental health challenges can also be highly effective.  For some mental health struggles, like bipolar disorder or psychosis, it is the first step to take for successful mental health treatment.  It is strongly recommended for more severe depression, and for when day-to-day functioning has become a challenge, or when significant thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or harm to others are occurring.  Medication can also help with a variety of other concerns. Working with a Psychiatrist or Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner can provide the full spectrum of information, counseling and treatment options best suited for your needs.

Therapy and medication often work well together, and research shows that this is frequently the most helpful approach, especially when struggles are significantly impacting day-to-day life.  Medication can make it easier to put into practice the skills and approaches encouraged in therapy. 

Whichever path you choose, the most important thing is that you are getting help so that you can start to feel better.  If you have additional questions, please let your primary care doctor know. They will be happy to help.