ShareBy Ghadeer Ghloum
KUWAIT: Although visiting a therapist can help a person understand many emotional chaos and avoid life difficulties, so many people still avoid visiting a therapist to avoid being mortified by it. Many people believe that visiting a therapist is a confirmation of having an unhealthy mentality that can possibly result in dehumanizing them and hinder their life progress.
This negative perception of visiting a therapist further worsens the case of not only those who need therapy, but also others that may become victims of some mentally ill people’s actions. To further understand the reasons behind people avoiding visiting a therapist, Kuwait Times interviewed Dr Ali Al-Baghlani, a specialist in psychiatry. Society’s awareness and acceptance of undergoing therapy Dr Baghlani highlights social media’s major part in developing people’s beliefs and ideologies.
Dr Ali Al-Baghlani“I believe that in the last few years, people somehow started to become aware of the necessity of therapy. Social media have raised awareness and created a sense of acceptance of visiting a therapist when needed,” he said. Awareness about the fact that some people need help in order to move on easily with their lives is growing due to social media illuminating its necessity. However, it is not normalized as it should be yet. We cannot deny that society still suffers from people who need therapy, who do not admit it and keep avoiding treatment,” he said.
Reasons why people avoid undergoing therapy Dr Baghlani said there are several reasons for this hesitance. The most remarkable element is fear of people’s looks and shameful comments. Apart from other factors that affect people once they are prescribed as mentally ill, they fear losing their custody rights and job opportunities, besides other matters related to their social and personal lives. According to Dr Baghlani, people refuse to admit their need for therapy in order to safeguard their image and belonging to society.
Treating mental illness is not based on one’s choice Treating one’s mental illness cannot be left to one’s preference because it can badly affect other people. This makes going through therapy a social responsibility. “If the issue of viewing therapy treatment as shameful is not resolved in society, the number of victims is going to increase, as people will face problems with mentally unhealthy people,” said Baghlani.
He added mentally ill people may affect regular people’s mental wellness due to the fear normal people may suffer from while interacting with people with mental illness. Thus, when people need therapy, they must visit a therapist so that they can better move on with their personal and social life at different levels without suffering personally or causing problems to others. This will also result in benefiting society, as it remains powerful and productive.
