At any stage of life, mental health should continue to be a priority. While it is true that teenagers have the highest rates of mental health diagnoses, it is important to remember that many of these challenges continue into adulthood. Additionally, adults are regularly diagnosed with mental health conditions or experience symptoms that they did not have as teens or young adults. For these reasons and others, adult mental health services remain invaluable elements of the community.
However, mental health services for patients of any age come in numerous forms, and not all are personalized to produce lasting effects. Focusing on long-term wellness is essential to successful symptom management, as short-term efforts tend to produce only short-term results. If you are considering seeking mental health services, or if you are currently participating and wonder what the future might look like, here is a primer on how adult mental health services can and should focus on long-term wellness, as well as what that means for you.
Key Takeaways
- Many people experience significant short-term improvement when trying mental healthcare, but research indicates that long-term participation results in even better outcomes.
- Options for long-term wellness include group and individual therapy, cross-disciplinary treatment, preventive services, telehealth, and more.
- Patients can practice journaling, mindfulness, and other techniques at home to support their long-term mental health.
- Selecting a provider for long-term treatment should involve asking targeted questions about how they will support the patient over months or years.
The Statistics on Long-Term and Short-Term Mental Health Treatment
When many people seek help for their mental well-being, they envision seeing a therapist for a few weeks until they get back on their feet. However, studies repeatedly indicate that the duration of mental health treatment has a significant impact on its outcome. It is common for patients to report that they improve noticeably after just a few sessions, which can lead them to stop participating in mental health services. Yet studies show that these effects often plateau; patients who remain in treatment and actively engage over the long term experience the most significant symptom reduction.
In other words, mental health treatment of any kind can be helpful. But to carry those effects over a lifetime, it is important to commit to long-term care. That can mean a variety of focus areas, from therapy to peer groups and even tasks you can accomplish on your own at home.
Adult Mental Health Services That Focus on Long-Term Wellness
Mental health services are not a monolith. Therapy is most commonly associated with this area of healthcare, but it is just one facet of a broader approach to wellness. Some of the adult mental health services that you can consider, especially with a focus on long-term success, include:
Ongoing individual therapy
As one of the most common options for mental care, therapy remains integral to many people’s self-care. Individual therapy is customized to each patient’s specific needs, desires, and vulnerabilities. This approach allows it to target the thought patterns and practices that reinforce unwanted behavior or thoughts and supplement actions and worldviews that serve the person instead.
Within the scope of therapy, multiple options are available. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), for example, helps patients identify thought processes and change them into something more effective for their own well-being. By committing to CBT over the long term, patients get consistent practice in this behavior, which can serve them throughout life.
However, CBT is far from the only option. Dialectical behavior therapy addresses emotional regulation and stress tolerance, while humanistic therapy focuses on personal growth and the many positive aspects of the patient.
Multidisciplinary care
To support long-term wellness, mental health treatment should be paired with physical care. In other words, adults should consider working with a team that takes a holistic view of health, addressing both mental and physical health. This arrangement might mean that a therapist and general practitioner share patient documentation to provide multi-pronged care.
Multidisciplinary care can be especially useful for individuals with comorbidities. Take anxiety, for example. A person who is experiencing insomnia (e.g., due to a medication, genetic condition, or other source) may begin to develop anxiety. Holistic care can address both mental and physiological dynamics simultaneously to improve outcomes, providing longer-lasting, more effective relief that does not succumb to temporary improvements and fluctuations.
Group therapy and peer support programs
To succeed over the long term, many patients find scaffolding is irreplaceable. This practice involves building support around oneself, such as peers, community, and at-home practices that make life easier.
Group therapy is one option for achieving this. By committing to developing mental wellness alongside people with similar challenges and ideas, many people find they develop a sense of community and camaraderie that can make the process easier. These bonds may endure over time, providing long-term support.
This applies to peer programs. Whether those peers also participate in therapy or are supportive in another way, building a strong network of supporters can help you succeed for the long haul.
Intensive outpatient programs
For those who need to address challenges that are significantly impacting their quality of life, such as addiction, intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) can be an excellent choice. They operate on a structured but adjustable schedule, allowing participants to fit the program into their other responsibilities.
IOPs are just as effective as inpatient treatment in most cases, which grants further access to mental healthcare that may not be available for those who do not have the resources for inpatient care. Conquering these significant hurdles in one’s life sets the stage for long-term success and the pursuit of one’s goals.
Trauma-informed therapy
For some people, short-term mental health exercises do not provide long-term relief because there is an underlying challenge that is not being addressed. Trauma is one such underlying factor. Trauma-informed therapy helps patients identify the root of their behaviors. By processing the trauma, long-term success becomes more possible.
Preventive mental health services
Patients do not need to be experiencing mental health difficulties to seek treatment. One of the most effective long-term steps an individual can take to support their mental health is to engage in preventive services.
Preventive mental health services include therapy, even when you do not feel that anything problematic is occurring. Depending on each person’s goals and ideas, other options such as wellness retreats can be valuable, providing a brief period of decompression and grounding. A therapist can help you consider your options for effective preventive care!
Telehealth
Over the long term, one of the main reasons that people stop pursuing mental health care has to do with the inconvenience of taking time out of their schedule for an office visit. Telehealth aims to solve this problem by bringing services such as therapy to patients wherever they are. This can increase access, meaning you can commit to mental healthcare over the long term.
Supporting Your Wellness at Home
You are not a passive participant in your own wellness. While your mental healthcare provider(s) have a wealth of knowledge and experience to contribute, there are plenty of things you can do at home to support your mental well-being over time, too.
- Psychoeducation: Do not hesitate to read about how the brain and emotions work! You may gain insight into yourself in the process.
- Journaling: Some people find that externalizing their thoughts helps them process or view them from a different angle.
- Mindfulness: Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment. Many people find that objectively observing their thoughts and emotions in the moment can help them cope outside therapy sessions.
- Boundary-setting: One often overlooked key to long-term mental wellness is setting appropriate boundaries with the people in your life. You can mitigate unfair relational strain and unhealthy dynamics by determining who can engage with you and how.
Choosing the Right Adult Mental Health Services
If you would like to pursue long-term mental wellness care, choosing the team to trust is one of the most important decisions you can make. Asking a few simple questions can help you make that selection with a mind for sustainable wellness over time:
- How do you set your patients up for success?
- Do you personalize your treatments?
- How do you determine which treatments may be most effective?
- What is your approach for clients who stay in treatment for longer than a year?
- How often do you reassess goals or change approaches?
- Do you collaborate with other professionals to provide holistic care?
- How do you help patients develop skills they can use independently?
Embrace Long-Term Mental Well-Being With Adult Mental Health Services
Your mental well-being is just as important as your physical health, and it should be treated with the same level of care. Just as you do not go to the doctor a single time, you should regularly attend to your mental state throughout life. The professionals at Aquila Recovery Clinic offer services aimed at helping you succeed over many years through intensive outpatient programs, group therapy, and more. Contact Aquila Recovery Clinic to learn more about how we can help you thrive now and in the future!