I am a firm believer in the importance of seeking professional help when suffering with mental illness. Through professional treatment, I learned to observe and handle my thoughts. Thereby, I learned to put my thinking process into words. With that I learned healthy coping mechanisms. And even suffered from less trauma complaints. 

Because of the methods I learned in therapy, I was better able to express my mental issues in my relationship with Jesus, and this in itself brought me a lot of healing. 

Below I want to discuss a few of my favorite treatments and in which way I actually learned from them. 

EMDR– stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing,  and is a well-known treatment that helps one to cope with traumatic complaints. Because of EMDR, some of my traumatic experiences lost their emotional weight, which made them more bearable. Thereby, did I suffer from less traumatic complaints after finalizing this treatment. 

CBT– stands for cognitive behavioral therapy. This treatment taught me to be aware of thought processes that are going on in my mind. I learned how they were developed and also became aware of the toxicity of them. Besides, did I learn exercises which helped me to have more control over my thought life.

ERT– stands for emotion regulation therapy. This treatment helped me to become aware of my emotions. I learned a lot about what exactly happens in my mind when I feel certain emotions. Thereby did I learn healthy coping mechanism so that I know what to do whenever I feel that my emotions are taking over. 

These treatments will take some time  depending on the severity of your illness. The more severe your mental illness is, the longer these treatments will take. 

However, I can assure you that it is all worth it. 

I must give notice to the fact that professional treatment can be very painful at first. I’ve often seen that when people start with professional treatment it is so hard to be confronted with their emotional baggage that they quit with their treatment. I can testify that enduring this initiation period and finishing your treatment is rewarding.

This can be compared with cleansing a physical wound. First you will have to disinfect the wound which is very painful. However this is necessary to make sure that the wound heals. The same goes for an emotional wound. 

The first steps of healing are always the hardest, but it gets better. 

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up – Galatians 6:9