Video Transcript: Modalities

Welcome back to mental health integration, the mini course. In this section,  we're going to be talking about modalities of healing. In the last section, we  asked the question, why do we want to do mental health integration in the first  place? In this section, we're going to start talking about what are modalities  towards healing. Because those modalities of healing can often start to lead us  toward how we actually reintegrate our lives. Then we'll actually talk a little bit  more about some of the spiritual sides behind those a little bit later on. But now  we get to start with modalities. What about therapy? One of the hot button  issues around mental health is should you see a therapist? I've heard from  some mental health professional or some pastors and Christian leaders.  Absolutely, you should see a therapist. I've heard from others some hesitancy.  And I am here, as somebody with a mental health issue, who has dealt with a lot of this stuff to say, Go get with a therapist, it is so helpful, I cannot tell you how  helpful it is, as long as they're a good therapist. Now, there are some questions  with therapy, like, what makes a good counselor. If you just go see anybody, that doesn't mean that you will actually succeed with your therapist. What I noticed  when I was going through working with therapists, and working with mental  health professionals all over the Denver Metro area, is that there were a lot of  really, really, really good therapists, and a lot more really bad ones. So how do  you know how to tell which ones are good? And which ones aren't? Well, there's a few things that you can look at. One do they listen to you. Two, do you feel  they are really competent, that they know what they're talking about? Three, do  they feel secure in themselves? Are they trying to prove anything? Or are they  just fine with who they are. And beyond that, there's questions of fit. Whether  they fit well with your personality and with your goals, whether they really align  with your faith, and whether they can support that or whether that is something  that they're actually against. And there's even questions of whether they  understand you. And whether you can understand them. When you get all of  these things together, and they mesh up, you find a really, really good fit for a  counselor. You can find somebody who can speak the truths into your life that  can see the evidences of what's happening. Who can understand the various  parts of you, to help you understand, break those apart, and put them back  together in healed ways. I cannot say enough good things about my counselor, I used to joke around that the first counselor. During and after seminary, I bought  him a truck, which is hard to say when you're a seminary student, and you're  broke all the time. But that's basically the way it felt. Because he did so much  good work with me. And I can't say enough about how much it meant and how  much I'm thankful for the work he did with me. I also can't say enough about the  fact that I probably spent $20,000 on therapy when I didn't have any money.  Thank you for your truck. Next is medication. Do you need medication? In  certain cases, the answer is just Yes. And medication is not a bad thing. It is not  of the devil, it does not mean that you're weak, it does not mean that God is not 

doing enough through you, it just means that your brain doesn't work quite right.  I also have hypoglycemia if I don't take care of my blood sugar levels, I'm in bad  shape. This is the same with medication, you just have to take care of it. There's no way around that. So just take care of it. In the case of this, you might need to  see a psychiatrist, so you can find the right help. You might need to see some  

other professional if you can't find a psychiatrist in order to get the right pills. And this might take a while. So you're going to need to communicate with your  psychiatrist or your nurse practitioner, whoever you're seeing or your GP and  figure out what is working, what's not working and communicate back and forth  until you find something that does work. I have taken pills every single day for  my bipolar disorder for the last 23 years. So is it bad to take pills for yourself?  No, no, take the pills. In my case, they are my admission ticket to life. I do this  and I get to play with everybody else. Otherwise I don't have a life to live. I'll take the admission ticket. Thank you very much. So there's nothing wrong with pills.  Take your pills, get on to the next thing. With that what makes a good client? We just talked about being a finding a good therapist, you also need to be a good  client. If you are cramming 16 Red Bulls per day, the odds of your medications  working is not very high. If you are taking your medications every fourth day, the  odds of your medications working are not very high. If you are drinking to excess on a nightly basis, because the pain hurts, and this is the best way to deal with  it, you might be addict, you might be addicted to alcohol, and your meds  probably aren't going to work very well. Part of being a good client means you  have to follow your doctor's orders. That means you need to take your meds as  they're prescribed to you every day. Not some days, every day consistency is  key, they have to get into your body, they have to saturate and get to saturation  levels, and you have to keep them there, which means you can't miss doses.  You also have to take care of yourself apart from actually taking your meds to  make sure you can make them work as well as possible. That means managing  your blood sugar through eating well. And exercise. That means sleeping  enough. That means taking care of yourself. That means managing stressful  situations well. If you do all these things, it's much easier for your psychiatrist to  work and make get your meds Correct. They're playing chemistry set in your  mind. You want that to go well. Okay, you can also be a good client for your  therapist, show up to your meetings, do your homework, be authentic. If you  show up to your therapist's office, and you are guarded, they can't help you. You have to come in, ready to do work and ready to get after it. And if you do that  they can do amazing work. A final note on your therapist and your psychiatrist.  Mental health issues are weird because you can only see symptoms, you can't  see causes. That means your therapist and your psychiatrist are counting on  you for feedback. You are the only feedback they get between visits, you are the only feedback they get to understand what's working. And they desperately want you to get well. And they can only get well. If you give them proper feedback. 

That means be completely open and honest with them. Do not lie at all. They're  not trying to turn you in. If you're doing drugs. They're not trying to turn you in if  you're addicted to porn or alcohol or anything else. They're trying to help you.  And they can't help you unless you're honest. If you're honest, your psychiatrist  has the best possible information to make the best possible judgments and get  your brain chemistry right. If you're honest with your therapist, they have the  best possible information to make sure they can help you heal from the wounds  that are causing you to go down a rabbit hole that isn't helpful. And all of this  works, right? You have the capacity to actually discover what it is to be yourself  again. In some cases, you have the chance to integrate and start discovering  what it is to be made as a Genesis 1 and 2 self. Instead of just the Genesis 3  self and only seeing your sin and not just how you were made. So go ahead and do the work, take care of yourself. Be consistent, show up and give really, really  good feedback so that you can heal and if you do all these things, you have a  chance at a life again, this is your admission ticket, take it and live well.