Helping yourself to Self-Help
My wonderful parents are 86 years old. In their use, mental health care, as it is currently available, simply didn't exist. Moreover, back then the stigmatization about it was much greater than now. The development of psychoanalysis as a treatment only began around 1920. Alcoholics Anonymous was founded around 1935. Carl Rogers began to develop client centered therapy in 1940. All of the above were milestones.
Now many useful resources are abundant and readily available. For example there are many excellent self-help books, on a wide variety of different topics, in libraries, secondhand bookstores, and obviously as new books. Scientific research has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that so-called "Biblio- therapy" can by itself effectively treat depression. Abundance and accurate information is also available from the Internet, for example from the website of the National Institute of Mental Health (www.NIMH.org) or by searching out topics on Google. Although I wholeheartedly endorse "one-on-one" therapy, self-help methods are complementary and even offer some potential advantages.
If I had a magic pill to give to my clients at the first visit, I would want it to contain the capacity for "healthy self-reliance." With such a pill, therapy would be completed in a single session. In contrast, on skillful psychotherapy can sometimes forced or unhealthy dependency, which is counterproductive. Groups which are led by a metal hall professional can do the same thing. Self-help groups do not have a professional leader, just logistical rules and an organizational procedure. Therefore any participant has to take personal responsibility for their continued attendance, which fosters independence and self-reliance. In addition self-help groups are free, so aside from transportation costs and perhaps childcare, money is less of a problem. In other words there is no excuse for not going. Some churches and spiritual communities also offer effective mental health care, sometimes in a group format.
Clearly individual therapy isn't cheap, despite the presence of some clinics that operate on a sliding scale basis. Despite this a combined approach is possible. Perhaps you could see an individual therapist once every month or two and combined that with attendance at self-help groups and Biblio therapy. As I've explained in some ways this would be preferable to just one-on-one therapy. It would be kind of like a mental health buffet. "Bon appétit"!