Amber StewartTherapy vs Mental Health Specialist: Which is Best for you?
So what is a mental health specialist?? For many, if a person isn’t a licensed therapist, psychiatrist or psychologist then they often believe that they are quacks but that could be farther from the truth. But in reality, mental health specialists can offer a lot of help and support to clients in ways that other mental health practitioners can’t. While psychologists, psychiatrists, and other types of therapists are trained and equipped to diagnose mental health conditions, coaches cannot do this. If you need an assessment and diagnosis, mental health specialists are not your best bet since they cannot prescribe medication.
Although this is true, there are still so many things that mental health specialists can do. Mental health specialists trained by the Institute of Transformational Nutrition (ITN) are called, Certified Transformational Nutrition Coach (CTNC) Mental Health Specialists. They are specially trained professionals who uses coaching, along with lifestyle interventions, to help our clients develop greater awareness in themselves while using alternative methods to help them find relief, not only in their mental health, but in their physical health as well.
In this post, I debunk some of the top myths about mental health specialists, and how they differ from therapy.
Myth #1: Specialists Can’t Help with “Real” Mental Health Issues
While mental health specialists aren’t therapists, we draw on evidence-based principles and practices such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational therapy, rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), NLP anchoring and more modalities, just like therapists. The only difference is that specialists focus more on moving you forward instead of focusing on the past, much like life coaches.
The Problem with Excessive Therapy
Even with trauma, sometimes with excessive therapy by digging into it and reliving the trauma, from a neurophysiological standpoint, doesn’t really allowing that trauma to heal. When you constantly try to relive those thoughts, you’re only pumping electricity through those neural pathways keeping those belief systems alive.
In order to change belief systems we have to change our neural networks and in order to do that, we have to use neuroplasticity, synaptic trimming and pruning to breakdown as well as dismantle old neural networks and build new ones. This is also how learning and memory works.
Furthermore, extensive research backs the use of coaching interventions in a clinical setting to treat conditions like stress, depression and anxiety. A recent survey showed that out of over 300 coaching clients, a whopping 96 percent reported that they were satisfied with their program, and 88 percent saw a reduction in their stress or improvement on their overall well-being.
In contrast to therapists, CTNC Mental Health Specialists don’t specialize in treating complex clinical problems. However, they do help clients manage emotions, challenge negative thinking patterns, improve relationship skills, and reduce stress and anxiety — all of which bolsters mental health. In addition to that, they also help clients get to the root physiological causes of their mental health disorders since they are not always caused by past trauma or limiting beliefs.
Can Mental Health Specialists Help?
Okay, okay… I know what you’re asking yourself, “Can mental health specialists help with anxiety or depression?”
Myth #2 Specialists aren't Highly Trained
A common myth I hear about coaches is that they aren’t highly qualified professionals. And although this is true for many other coaches who focus their education off of lived experiences, CTNC Mental Health Specialists take the time to engage in extensive training, education, and experience to earn their title. We are truly one of a kind because we use a 3-way approach to managing our client’s mental health:
Looking at mental health from this approach allows us to help clients understand that mood disorders are multi-faceted diseases that can be triggered by many different things including:
- Metabolic dysfunction
- Unhealthy gut microbiome caused by dysbiosis
- Dysregulated nervous system
- Hormone imbalances
- Nutritional Imbalances
- Disconnection from yourself
- Spiritual Disconnect
- Genetic factors
- Environmental toxins which can contribute to disorders such as anxiety or ADHD
- Parasites and bacteria which can contribute to disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
- Poor environment such as low exposure to sunlight or the outdoors
In short, being able to address and modify these areas of a person’s life make it so much easier for individuals with mental health disorders to:
- Reprogram negative thinking patterns
- Discover their life purpose
- Boost their confidence
- Increase their emotional intelligence
- Find true happiness
- Heal old wounds caused by past trauma
- And ultimately reach their health, career, relationship and life goals
So although therapy can be very helpful, sometimes people can experience far better results by seeking the support of a Mental Health Specialist.
Myth #3: Specialists Use a One-Size-Fits-All Approach
Another common myth is that coaches rely on generic, one-size-fits-all techniques with clients. While this is true for some coaches, mental health specialists rely on well-established codes of ethics plus evidence-based techniques to best serve their client’s unique needs and circumstances.
Equally important, we attack your mental health issues from all angles (mentally, emotionally, nutritionally and spiritually) to get to the root cause of your issues. Much like therapists, specialists listen deeply to their clients to in order to relay their personal needs, challenges, and hopes back to them so they can get a good understanding of how their thinking is aligning with their actions and goals.
Based on each client’s particular set of circumstances, specialists also do the following:
- Ask powerful questions. Specialists ask the kinds of questions that help clients see themselves in new ways and open up new avenues for transformation.
- Introduce new perspectives and skills. Mental health specialists use evidence-based skills to help them overcome obstacles they’re facing. They also provide a fresh perspective to help their clients re-frame their thinking and address problems more effectively.
- Help clients design actions to facilitate behavior change and hold them accountable for putting them into practice. Clients rarely leave a coaching session without establishing a personal practice to complete before their next session. This could mean a new affirmation to recite to reprogram subconscious beliefs, a new technique to try when emotions get the best of them, or another meaningful “homework” assignment designed to propel their transformation.
Aside from that, mental health specialists have the power to delve deep to determine whether your mental health concerns stem from hormone imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, stress related or caused by past trauma.
In addition, mental health specialists work with clients to heal from past trauma, although our method differs from they way therapists do it. We do so in a manner that addresses their mental blocks as well as physical imbalances to provide long lasting relief.
Myth #4: Seeing a Therapist is Always the Best Option
Mental health is on a spectrum, and psychotherapy may not be the best behavioral health option for your specific needs and challenges. Perhaps you met with a therapist previously to better understand the effects of past experiences on your life, and you are now in a position to focus more on personal and professional development.
While therapy can be a great fit for many people, for others, there are numerous indicators that coaching from a mental health specialist may be a better match which includes:
- The mental and emotional health challenges you’re dealing with are on the mild to moderate end of the spectrum.
- Rehashing the past, analyzing the present, and conceptualizing your feelings makes you feel as though you are going in circles without making any progress.
- Your feelings of anxiety or depression persists even after seeking a therapists and working through your past trauma
- You prefer a shorter-term approach to personal growth and development.
- You want to improve your stress management or work-life balance
- You want help in clarifying your values, goals, and purpose.
- You’re interested in learning practical, actionable ways to address your personal and professional challenges.
- You’re willing to complete self-assessments, reading, journaling, or other “homework” to help overcome personal challenges.
When it comes to mental health, recognizing the functionality of a person’s physiology and biochemisty can make a huge difference between suffering in silence and finding relief…. It can turn a person with OCD into a normal individual with just a really high Type A personality. This is another reason why mental health specialists can sometimes offer a better method to help clients improve their mental health. These practitioners have the ability to qualify and measure the right markers necessary to move people down that spectrum of dysfunction into a better life.
The Problem with Psychiatry
Now I know that this blog post is about mental health specialists and therapy, but I just wanted to highlight psychiatry for a minute because this is often another go to approach for people to manage their mental health. For the record, psychiatrists do not recognize the role of disordered living or thinking in depression or anxiety. They believe everything has a biological root.
What’s the problem with this view? Psychiatry is the one and only medical specialty that does not typically examine the one organ that its trying to heal. So even if psychiatrists believe a biological disorder is at the root of depression, they often can’t confirm this. As a result, the pills they prescribe work only marginally well, only some of the time and can cause side effects.
Allopathic protocols can only do so much when it comes to resolving mental health issues. This is because mood disorder medication enables some patients to find relief without having to alter the self-destructing lifestyle habits that are causing the mental health disorders in the first place. For the cases of depression that are caused by life imbalance, few psychiatrists work with their clients to fix the imbalance because they think everything is biological and don’t recognize the role of life imbalance… so the depression continues to fester.
In addition, mood disorder medication enables some patients to find relief without having to alter the self-destructing lifestyle habits that are causing the mental health disorders in the first place. Unfortunately, this is why less than 30 percent of individuals who take antidepressant medication actually find relief, and if they do, it usually doesn’t last long.
Not only that, but current theories about mood disorders are rooted in the cytokine theory which is more looking at the role of cytokines influencing mental health through a bunch of different pathways and microglial activation. Furthermore, CTNC Mental Health Specialists understand how the interaction between biological, psychological and social factors leads to either health or disease. Not only that, but we also focus on:
- Individual differences
- Believe that what what you eat affects both your mind and body
- Recognize our clients spirituality
- We are the 1st and only personalized nutrition coaching system in the world that gets to the root cause of our client’s condition -physically, mentally and spiritually.
- Also, we are able to co-create a personalized plan that provides our clients with effective results.
Lastly, CTNC Mental Health Specialists provide an alternative view since we have been trained to look at the big picture. We understand a more comprehensive and holistic view of mental health which is that mental illness is both environmental and biological. We teach clients how to identify areas of life imbalance as well as remedies for relevant biological imbalances.
Using movement and food as medicine should always be top priority because a lot of the mental health conditions people suffer from is just a byproduct of a metabolic dysfunction. Not to say that people won’t be able to find relief of their mental health troubles by seeking therapy, but if you do seek therapy and don’t find relief, then there may be underlying issues causing your problems. When it comes to mental health, recognizing the functionality of a person’s physiology and biochemistry can make a huge difference between suffering in silence and finding relief. This allows practioners the ability to qualify and measure the right markers necessary to move people down that spectrum of dysfunction into a better life. If you’re interested in coaching then let me know. I hope this helps.
DISCLAIMER: The content of this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. I am also not recommending that you use one specialist over the other. It is ultimately up to the client to determine the best treatment for them.
Hi! My name is Amber and I’m a Body Goals Builder, Master Life Coach, Certified Health Coach, CTNC Mental Health Specialist, Stress Alchemist & Fear Conqueror
I used to be a people pleasing, work-a-holic who stressed herself out to climb the wellness industry’s corporate ladder, while obsessing over her self image. I soon realized that none of it mattered if I wasn’t happy with myself, inside and out, and surrounded around people who loved and respected me.
I now help individuals who are stressed out, out of shape and struggling to find balance in their lives learn how to ease their worries, improve their health, create 10x more joy in their lives and manifest the life of their dreams. At the STEW Project, we are maximizing our living potential by Simply Taking an Emphasis on Wellness.
