Read self-help books, and learn what cognitive reasoning is and make positive attempts to learn how you may be sabotaging your own best self; and all that while seeing your family physician to make sure your physical condtion is normal. Psychiatrists and Psychologist are expensive and while they are miracle workers, in some sense, they may not be necessary.
If your problems are not serious but you could use some counseling, why not ask a minister, a friend that you can trust, or your primary care doctor for advice. However, before you just settle for drugs, and most often that’s what the doctor will prescribe, be sure you understand your problem.
Everyone has need of a psychiatrist at some time in their lives but without the means or the inclination to seek out their help, the problems resolves itself, rightly or wrongly. Whether or not you agree with the above statement, it would be well to understand more about your self and how conflicts can arise. There are an enormous amount of self-help books being published and these often help. At least they are doing well in the market place and that tells us there certainly is a need for them.
If your problem is not one of the serious mental illness such as bi-polar or schizophrenia, or a depression you cannot overcome, but just the consequences of living in a mixed-up-world, you will have no trouble finding alternatives to psychological help.
It would be well here to distinguish between psychology and psychiatry. Psychology is the study of the mind and is involved in all aspects of how the mind works; Psychiatry is the study of the diseased mind. Both work together. Their fields of endeavor criss-cross. As an example of how they work, if you seek a psychiatrist for help, one of the first things he will probably do is to have a psychologist test you to see how you are functioning mentally. And the other way around, if the psychologist finds you are mentally ill he will send you to a psychologist.
Now, the question is, what alternatives are there to psychological help. There may be help in the social workers who work with the specialists and who are employed by hospitals and clinics. There may be group counseling where a group of people help each other with their problems. Just ask around and see what is out there if more in-depth help is not required.
Of course everyone has psychological problems and oftentimes these will be problems that you can talk out with your best friend or some member of your family that you trust. Whatever you do do not go out telling everyone you meet about your most innermost problems. That would be ridiculous but you can often get help form other sources of individuals who will be glad to offer guidance and will not tell others about what you told them in private.
It is wrong to tell others about condifences that they have no need to know. This is one sure way to lose all of your friends. Once you have splashed damaging information all over the community and town about a person who confided in you confidently, you can never recall it all. Oh, sure, you can go to some of the people and try to recant and take back your gossip, but there is no way you can completley repair the damage. How about all those you told who passed on the information plus adding their own part to it.
Yes, help is available for those in need and it usually involves talking out your problems but pick your confidant carefully.
