When we experience painful and tough events, we might not believe that we’re able to move on. But psychological healing, like the physical one, is possible for all of us. In this article, we’ve gathered useful information to help you speed up your psychological healing process.
What is self-healing psychology?
In the field of mental health, healing is not merely getting rid of illnesses, symptoms, or distress. It’s more complex; psychological healing goes beyond that.
Even though it can mean different things to different people, psychological healing is generally about being able to live a life of pursuing ambitions and values, while having a sense of control over our lives, and also hope for the future. Overall, all these come together to help us build a positive sense of identity for ourselves.
What is the recovery process in mental health?
There are countless perks to using digital mental health.
This process encourages us to foster dreams and interests, develop skills, and look beyond limits. By using psychological healing techniques, we bring about change and make new self-discoveries!
Naturally, psychological healing requires many essential factors that help us achieve it: healthy relationships, an environment that allows growth and builds resilience, a sense of safety, and life satisfaction are all examples of the factors that lead us to psychological healing.
It’s true that perhaps there can’t be one prescribed process for everyone. There are many factors at play, and the psychological healing process looks different based on each person’s circumstances.
There are different models that try and depict psychological recovery. Let’s look at one called “The Stage Model”:
What is The Stage Model in psychological healing?
In this model, explained by Andersen, Oade, and Caupti (2011), psychological healing happens in 5 stages:
Moratorium
A stage where the most dominant feeling is “hopelessness”, and if we are experiencing severe symptoms of mental illness, we can lose sense of ourselves. There’s no sense of responsibility here, and we don’t take control of our lives.
Awareness
This is a turning point in the process of psychological healing. “Hope” is the highlighted factor in this stage – this can even come from our surroundings! It could even be as simple as someone believing in us.
That is to say, we may not have a clear goal in mind, but there is a need to take control of life and move forward.
Preparation
This stage is where we start the process of developing skills for psychological recovery, and use our strength in order to move a step forward.
Re-building
At this stage, there is an active plan for us to take control over life and build a positive identity. There are clear goals here.
Growth
This stage is characterized by “self-management” and a positive identity. Life is meaningful here, and even though some symptoms may still be present, they are managed.
Will I go through all of these stages?
Although there are stages that have been clearly defined and ordered, psychological healing itself is more complicated in reality. Remember: this is a model for us to understand what it means to recover, not a fixed journey that we all experience.
So, you might not go through these stages in a linear form. After all, it’s not a straight line! There are ups and downs in the process, but psychological healing techniques can help us on the ride.
You might still experience distress at all stages. The point is not to get rid of them, but to manage them successfully. In addition, relapse is not a sign of going back to previous stages.
Why is psychological healing important?
Apart from building a positive sense of self and taking control, you also develop “resiliency”, and perhaps “antifragility”. This is especially important, because it means that in the future, you’ll be more capable of psychological healing in the face of mental health difficulties. You will gain independence in life, which helps you reach your full potential as a human being!
Happiness-19 and psychological healing
Surely, just becoming aware of our mental health is not enough for us to heal. Indeed, there needs to be a plan for developing skills for psychological recovery and maintaining helpful habits.
While therapy is a good option for that, it is not always available to us, or we may not know how to start it.
Happiness-19 is a good starting point for you to enter the “preparation” stage, and not only learn useful skills and psychological healing techniques, but also incorporate them into your daily life!
Sources
•Andresen R., Oades L. G., & Caputi, P. (2011). Psychological Recovery: Beyond Mental Illness. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.: United Kingdom
•SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery. Available from: https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/pep12-recdef.pdf
•Psychological Recovery. University of Wollongong Australia. Available from: https://www.uow.edu.au/the-arts-social-sciences-humanities/research/iimh/psyc-rec/
•Jacob, K. (2015). Recovery model of mental illness: A complementary approach to psychiatric care. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 37(2), 117.
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