Why is Counseling Important?

Mental health counseling also helps mitigate the tremendous financial burden of mental illness, which costs society billions per year. The CDC reports a combined loss of over $400 billion when only factoring in two mental health conditions in the United States: suicide and substance dependency.

Further, mental healthcare is an investment in an individual’s overall longevity. When individuals lack proper counseling, they are without adequate resources to manage their difficulties.

Untreated mental illness impacts society substantially. 

• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates suicide and suicide attempts cost the nation approximately $70 billion yearly in medical and work-loss costs. 
• Regarding behavioral issues such as substance dependency, the CDC states excessive alcohol is a $249 billion loss which spans over healthcare, workplace productivity, collisions, and criminal justice. 
• The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Eating Disorders (ANAD) estimates the cost of eating disorders at $64.7 billion annually.

Many communities possess financial and accessibility barriers to the mental healthcare system currently.  Both the community and the individuals who live within are at a loss when society fails to invest in preventative measures. 

Counseling allows individuals to reassess their current behavior and thought patterns while they establish beneficial alternatives. The APA reports psychotherapy effectiveness for a broad range of individuals, couples, families, disorders, and symptoms.

Through established research, evidence-based therapy methods have been developed and shown to be effective. When mental health counselors employ these evidence-based therapy techniques, their clients see improvement in their mental health symptoms. Research provides a time frame recommendation for how often and frequently a client needs therapeutic treatment. Evidence also contributes to which types of therapy are suitable for specific diagnoses.

Evidence-based therapy techniques:

• For instance, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) clients benefit from cognitive behavioral theory (CBT), so it now serves as one of the dominant, ubiquitous therapy options. 
• Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) originates as a treatment for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). 
• Medication is also an evidence-based treatment, such as in the case of substance use disorder (SUD) or schizophrenia.

Evidence-based therapy allows healthcare providers, policymakers, and governmental organizations to draw conclusions. These findings highlight certain mental illnesses and which demographics they affect most. The research behind counseling also permits advocacy work for appropriate funding and grants. 

Most prevalent, counselors provide a mixture of therapy and recommendations to a psychiatry provider for appropriate medication.

Depression or PTSD → CBT

Borderline Personality Disorder or Bipolar Disorder → DBT

Substance Use or Schizophrenia → Medication

Counseling equips individuals, partners, and families with the resources to handle behavioral issues that occur in their daily life. The financial costs of mental illness affect society as a whole and accessibility to counseling is most necessary in communities unable to afford the cost of therapy. When individuals take counseling seriously, improvements reveal themselves in their communication, relationships, behavioral, and cognitive patterns.

Expand counseling and clinical practice skills with CONCEPT - Professional Training through the following courses: 

• Group Work Basics in Changing Times, An Application of Skills and Cultural Competency Amidst COVID 19 & Across Telehealth Platforms by Cristen Wathen, Ph.D. and Melissa Luke, Ph.D.
• Contemporary Legal Challenges in Counseling by Theodore P. Remley, Jr., JD, Ph.D.
• The Neuroscience of Addiction and the Role of Medications in Treatment and Recovery by Mita M Johnson, Ed.D
• New Perspectives on Counseling Black Men by Courtland C. Lee, Ph.D.
• Child and Adolescent Suicide: Prevention, Crisis Management and Postvention by David Capuzzi, Ph.D.