The most effective form of therapy today in dealing with many mental health disorders is CBT ( Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) It is a talking therapy and is used widely by clinical psychologists and some psychiatrists.What it does is to encourage you to see the flaws in your thinking patterns and then understand that these flawed thoughts are the root cause of your depression /self harming. It involves how you think about yourself, the world, and other people. Its about how what you do that affects other people around you.
CBT can help you to change how you think ( called your cognitions / or thoughts) and also how you behave. Its been found helpful in treating the following:
Anxiety
Depression
Eating disorders
Sexual dysfunction
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Social Phobias
Schizophrenia
Panic attacks.
CBT works by helping you to make sense of the thoughts and how they relate to a specific situation. It involves the situation, a problem, thoughts, emotions physical feelings and your actions. Here's and example:
SITUATION: In college you had a bad experience, Jemma keeps making nasty remarks about you to her mates
THOUGHTS: Jemma hates me and everything about me ( Negative automatic thought)
(Disadvantaged)
Jemma has a problem with communication of her emotions,
(Advantaged)
Maybe I should confront her about it and see if I can help her sort it.
Emotional: low mood sense of rejection as I am seen to be nasty. I need to replace this mood with a different understanding of Jemma.
( Disadvantaged)
Jemma is a very emotional person with everyone not just me.
( Advantaged)
In CBT this form of dialogue goes on between you and the therapist and they will want to see you for about twenty weekly sessions. Each session lasts about fifty minutes an they will ask you to keep a diary each day for many weeks to record your thoughts and situational experiences.
CBT helps you turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts away from suicidal thinking and depressive experiences. You regain your sense of perspective and break the spiral of anxiety and depression. It will help you build up your self esteem and improve your assertiveness skills. It will help you feel secure in changing world and deal with anger outbursts which lead to destruction.