Learning To Accept The Gradual Nature Of Mental Health Progress

When discussing mental health progress, there is usually a focus on improving ourselves, but the way these changes can happen often aren’t understood.  If you break your arm, for example, healing takes place in phases.  You are assessed, you receive a cast, and your body gradually takes care of healing the fracture under the guidance of this cast. Your mind and emotions work along phases to heal, repair, and grow healthier and stronger.  Accepting that therapy works best this way is important in effecting mental health progress it effectively.

If we’re sticking to the broken arm comparison, the “cast” in therapy that helps you heal can be a psychologist who is guiding you through the steps to improve upon your mental health.  There are different kinds of therapy, and it will be up to you to find the kind of therapy that makes you feel as challenged as it makes you feel comforted.  Finding proper guidance is vital in order to start improving your mental health, as well as being aware that progress will show itself through phases while in therapy.  In essence, having realistic expectations are very important in achieving good results.

People may end up feeling confused or frustrated in regards to the progress they’re making because they don’t feel it’s fast enough.  You may be hearing that in a lot of people who are having trouble picking up the pace after a year of quarantine. “I’m vaccinated, so I can start to resume my life,” they might say, “So, why don’t I feel any different?”  Well, mental health progress isn’t that straightforward, and it is always good to know that, especially when setting up realistic expectations for the work you’ll have to do. That “broken arm” won’t heal overnight, and mental health works in a very similar way. Of course, accepting that therapy is also a process may be easier said than done, which is why it is necessary to understand how therapy works and to be patient with this.

When people start working out at a gym with a trainer, they will usually be asked what their goals are.  Then, the trainer will let them know how to reach those goals.  They’re also told that it will take time, and that the real progress is the little achievements of each workout. Psychotherapy takes a similar approach for improving one’s issues.  If you’re working with a therapist, you will start to recognize that the breakthroughs you encounter throughout therapy are those that have been built up across sessions and that progress is being made.

If you are looking for a therapist that can guide you through this mental health progress, Dr. Yvonne Thomas, Ph.D., a psychologist in Los Angeles, can be of help to you. You may genuinely have the intentions to improve yourself.
However, you just may need the proper guidance of a trained professional to figure out how to do this and work towards these goals.

For more information on how a psychologist in Los Angeles can help you, give Dr. Yvonne Thomas a call at (310) 359-9450 or request an appointment online here on her website.