Video Transcript: Modalities
Welcome back to mental health integration, the mini course. In this section, we're going to be talking about modalities of healing. In the last section, we asked the question, why do we want to do mental health integration in the first place? In this section, we're going to start talking about what are modalities towards healing. Because those modalities of healing can often start to lead us toward how we actually reintegrate our lives. Then we'll actually talk a little bit more about some of the spiritual sides behind those a little bit later on. But now we get to start with modalities. What about therapy? One of the hot button issues around mental health is should you see a therapist? I've heard from some mental health professional or some pastors and Christian leaders. Absolutely, you should see a therapist. I've heard from others some hesitancy. And I am here, as somebody with a mental health issue, who has dealt with a lot of this stuff to say, Go get with a therapist, it is so helpful, I cannot tell you how helpful it is, as long as they're a good therapist. Now, there are some questions with therapy, like, what makes a good counselor. If you just go see anybody, that doesn't mean that you will actually succeed with your therapist. What I noticed when I was going through working with therapists, and working with mental health professionals all over the Denver Metro area, is that there were a lot of really, really, really good therapists, and a lot more really bad ones. So how do you know how to tell which ones are good? And which ones aren't? Well, there's a few things that you can look at. One do they listen to you. Two, do you feel they are really competent, that they know what they're talking about? Three, do they feel secure in themselves? Are they trying to prove anything? Or are they just fine with who they are. And beyond that, there's questions of fit. Whether they fit well with your personality and with your goals, whether they really align with your faith, and whether they can support that or whether that is something that they're actually against. And there's even questions of whether they understand you. And whether you can understand them. When you get all of these things together, and they mesh up, you find a really, really good fit for a counselor. You can find somebody who can speak the truths into your life that can see the evidences of what's happening. Who can understand the various parts of you, to help you understand, break those apart, and put them back together in healed ways. I cannot say enough good things about my counselor, I used to joke around that the first counselor. During and after seminary, I bought him a truck, which is hard to say when you're a seminary student, and you're broke all the time. But that's basically the way it felt. Because he did so much good work with me. And I can't say enough about how much it meant and how much I'm thankful for the work he did with me. I also can't say enough about the fact that I probably spent $20,000 on therapy when I didn't have any money. Thank you for your truck. Next is medication. Do you need medication? In certain cases, the answer is just Yes. And medication is not a bad thing. It is not of the devil, it does not mean that you're weak, it does not mean that God is not
doing enough through you, it just means that your brain doesn't work quite right. I also have hypoglycemia if I don't take care of my blood sugar levels, I'm in bad shape. This is the same with medication, you just have to take care of it. There's no way around that. So just take care of it. In the case of this, you might need to see a psychiatrist, so you can find the right help. You might need to see some
other professional if you can't find a psychiatrist in order to get the right pills. And this might take a while. So you're going to need to communicate with your psychiatrist or your nurse practitioner, whoever you're seeing or your GP and figure out what is working, what's not working and communicate back and forth until you find something that does work. I have taken pills every single day for my bipolar disorder for the last 23 years. So is it bad to take pills for yourself? No, no, take the pills. In my case, they are my admission ticket to life. I do this and I get to play with everybody else. Otherwise I don't have a life to live. I'll take the admission ticket. Thank you very much. So there's nothing wrong with pills. Take your pills, get on to the next thing. With that what makes a good client? We just talked about being a finding a good therapist, you also need to be a good client. If you are cramming 16 Red Bulls per day, the odds of your medications working is not very high. If you are taking your medications every fourth day, the odds of your medications working are not very high. If you are drinking to excess on a nightly basis, because the pain hurts, and this is the best way to deal with it, you might be addict, you might be addicted to alcohol, and your meds probably aren't going to work very well. Part of being a good client means you have to follow your doctor's orders. That means you need to take your meds as they're prescribed to you every day. Not some days, every day consistency is key, they have to get into your body, they have to saturate and get to saturation levels, and you have to keep them there, which means you can't miss doses. You also have to take care of yourself apart from actually taking your meds to make sure you can make them work as well as possible. That means managing your blood sugar through eating well. And exercise. That means sleeping enough. That means taking care of yourself. That means managing stressful situations well. If you do all these things, it's much easier for your psychiatrist to work and make get your meds Correct. They're playing chemistry set in your mind. You want that to go well. Okay, you can also be a good client for your therapist, show up to your meetings, do your homework, be authentic. If you show up to your therapist's office, and you are guarded, they can't help you. You have to come in, ready to do work and ready to get after it. And if you do that they can do amazing work. A final note on your therapist and your psychiatrist. Mental health issues are weird because you can only see symptoms, you can't see causes. That means your therapist and your psychiatrist are counting on you for feedback. You are the only feedback they get between visits, you are the only feedback they get to understand what's working. And they desperately want you to get well. And they can only get well. If you give them proper feedback.
That means be completely open and honest with them. Do not lie at all. They're not trying to turn you in. If you're doing drugs. They're not trying to turn you in if you're addicted to porn or alcohol or anything else. They're trying to help you. And they can't help you unless you're honest. If you're honest, your psychiatrist has the best possible information to make the best possible judgments and get your brain chemistry right. If you're honest with your therapist, they have the best possible information to make sure they can help you heal from the wounds that are causing you to go down a rabbit hole that isn't helpful. And all of this works, right? You have the capacity to actually discover what it is to be yourself again. In some cases, you have the chance to integrate and start discovering what it is to be made as a Genesis 1 and 2 self. Instead of just the Genesis 3 self and only seeing your sin and not just how you were made. So go ahead and do the work, take care of yourself. Be consistent, show up and give really, really good feedback so that you can heal and if you do all these things, you have a chance at a life again, this is your admission ticket, take it and live well.