Alternatives to seeking psychological help when you need to find ways to deal with living your life to the fullest potential include education; the church and your minister, priest or rabbi; community organizations; living a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle; or just talking to a good friend.
Gaining knowledge about all aspects of living gives one the ability to understand themselves better and perhaps to help formulate easier and less expensive alternatives than going to the psychologist or psychiatrist. By pursuing any of the above alternatives one can gain increased knowlege. Increased knowlege always helps even if you are seeing the psychologist or psychiatrist.
In fact, part of the therapy involved when seeing the psychiatrist or psychologist may be assignments to read certain books that are related to the problems you are having.
How to gain psychological help through books
Many of the things you need to know to help yourself are written in books by famous psychologists and psychiatrists. Often when going to a psychiatrist you will be encouraged to read certain books. You do not need to go to a psychiatrist to find out you need to read a book. You can just read the book.
The “How to” books include books on love, marriage, and relationships; abuse and domestic violence; sex and sexual problems; problems of drug addiction and alcoholism; sexual child abuse; and just about any type of book that can tell you how to do it better, or how to work through the kinds of unique problems that life bestows upon everyone.
There are also textbooks on psychology, personality, and abnormal psychology that can be very enlightening and informative; and help you to better understand where you are headed. You might have a child who needs psychological help when you begin to notice certain symptoms but are not sure what the symptoms mean; or your child may have been born with a genetic disorder and you are not sure where to go; or you yourself or your spouse are having difficulties.
Reading the right book is a better solution than spending thousands of dollars going to a psychologist or psychiatrist.
In order to find the book written specifically for your needs go to your local library or your favorite bookstore and check the titles in the psychology section. For library books you may be able to check in more specific areas such as a book on ADHD, alcoholism, or drug abuse.
If you don’t find anything suitable in your book store or library, try Amazon. They list almost all books in print. You can do a search by category right on Amazon.
There are other ways to gain knowledge such as doing searches on the Internet to find the specific information you are seeking and to learn more about it. Or if you just need to get your life together, taking college classes will help you more than the psychologist can and it will usually cost less especially if you go to one of the state colleges or universities, or a community college.
Reading on the Internet
The Internet has become a valuable place to learn almost anything, so you can almost achieve a free education on the Internet by just doing searches about specific issues. You can try the Internet instead of books if you prefer reading on the Internet.
Taking college classes
The best courses to take in college to help in the area of psychology are the social science and education courses such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, and educational psychology. Making sense out of the world comes with education. We live today in a very complex world that might be hard to figure out for the youthful adult or even an adult who has been around a long time.
If funds are limited for college classes, you might try monitoring classes at your local college for free. Just check out your local colleges and find classes that will help you understand what you need to know more about. Then apply at the college to monitor a class. You can sit in on the class and listen and take notes. You just won’t get a grade, but you will have gained valuable knowledge and information.
How the religious institution can help
Whatever religion you are or even if you are not a member of a religion you can find help with almost any religious organization. Most religious leaders have extra education in the social sciences and some are also counselors. They can offer you free of charge help with a variety of psychological problems.
Help provided by community organizations and support groups
Almost every community has a variety of community organizations and support groups that can help with psychological problems such as with alcohol and drug abuse, and other problems. Organizations that can be of help to you can be found listed in your local phone directory in the blue pages. Some organizations have been started by groups of like-minded people who are experiencing similar difficulties.
Talk to a good friend who will listen
One of the best ways to get psychological help is through talking to a good friend that will listen. Just go ahead and think about who your friends are and pick out the one who you can talk to. You may have a friend who has experienced a similar situation and can offer invaluable advice. Or the friend can be a person to just talk to when things get hard to handle. A good friend could also be a parent, a sibling or other relative.
Start living a more healthy lifestyle
Developing a healthy lifestyle such as eating healthy whole foods, and exercising regularly can help to cure many psychological problems. Many problems such as bulimia, anorexia, and schizophrenia can be helped or controlled with proper nutrition. Patients in hospitals are often put on a nutritional diet when beginning their cure. Lack of certain vitamins can cause mental dysfunction such as the B vitamins like Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12. Drinking alcohol and using drugs depletes the system of necessary vitamins which can then cause mental dysfunction.
There are also many books available on living a healthy lifestyle. There are books on exercise, diet, health foods such as raw foods, becoming a vegetarian or vegan, and vegetarian cookbooks just to name a few.
Conclusion
There are a variety of alternatives to seeking psychological help such as education, your church, community organizations and support groups, a good friend, and living a heathy lifestyle. You can access any of these alternatives or all of them before seeking psychological help. If you do need psychological help after exhausting all other alternatives then a community organization or religious institution can help you find the best psychological help available in your community.
