How Psychotherapy Can Enhance Your Physical Health

Psychotherapy is one of the main treatments for mental health disorders and substance abuse. From cognitive-behavioral therapy to couples therapy, each form of psychotherapy helps you overcome your mental health struggles. But did you know by doing this, you also improve your physical well-being?

At Carolina Wellness Psychiatry, our team offers psychotherapy along with many other treatments to assist you in battling your mental health issues. Our team consists of three expert psychiatrists — Dr. Elizabeth Bullard, Dr. Brian Moore; and Dr. Allison Foroobar. Each one of these doctors has years of experience using psychotherapy to treat mental health problems.

What is psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is a form of talk therapy that helps you cope with your emotions and mental health concerns. The goal of psychotherapy is to help you understand your emotions and feelings, while empowering you to change these feelings and face new challenges.

Psychotherapy digs a little deeper than traditional forms of counseling. This is because it helps you look deep down to find out what’s causing you to feel the way you do. It also provides you with solutions on how to overcome these issues.

For psychotherapy to be effective, you have to want to understand your feelings and how to positively change for the better. You’ll also need to follow a strict treatment regimen, which allows you to stay on course for better mental and physical health.

The different forms of psychotherapy

Many forms of psychotherapy are used to treat a variety of conditions, both mental and physical. Many mental health problems lead to physical challenges, and vice versa. 

The type of psychotherapy you need is based on what’s troubling you and what your goals are for the future. The most common forms of psychotherapy that our team uses include:

Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on helping you identify negative behaviors and thoughts. Once they’re identified, our team uses CBT to help you change your thought patterns and replace your behaviors with more positive ones.

Interpersonal therapy

This form of therapy is most often used if you suffer from depression, and is a more short-term type of therapy. Interpersonal therapy helps you get to the bottom of your troublesome issues, such as conflicts in your relationships or grief that’s unresolved. It teaches healthy communication and positive ways to express emotions.

Psychodynamic therapy

Psychodynamic therapy focuses on childhood experiences that affect your current behaviors and overall mental health. You work with our team to change negative patterns to become more self-aware of your own happiness.

There are many other types of therapy as well. Our team may use only one form or multiple forms of therapy to get you to your goal.

How psychotherapy improves your physical health

When you’re suffering from a chronic health condition like diabetes or obesity, it takes a toll on both your physical and mental health. Depression and anxiety are common when you’re dealing with one of these conditions.

The same is true when the root cause is a mental health issue like bipolar disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder. These problems lead to other issues that also affect your physical health.

Psychotherapy isn’t only used to help you overcome mental health issues. It also focuses on your physical well-being, including:

Improves chronic pain

Depression and anxiety often lead to symptoms that are painful. You may have headaches, neck or back pain, or pain all over. Psychotherapy helps you identify your personal issues, and gives you ways to improve your mental health, which in turn often helps reduce chronic pain.

Lowers blood pressure

Stress and other forms of mental duress can lead to an increase in your blood pressure. Psychotherapy helps you identify what causes these problems, potentially helping you lower your overall blood pressure.

Helps you deal with stress

Stress causes problems with both your mental well-being and physical health. When you identify the causes of your stress, you’re taking a step in the direction of improving your physical health too. Stress leads to pain, blood pressure issues, and overeating and obesity.

Opens your mind to exercise

Exercise is one of the ways therapy helps you cope with your mental health. Regular exercise not only helps with issues like anxiety or depression, but also improves your weight and physical health and well-being.

When you think psychotherapy could help you both physically and mentally, don’t hesitate to call us at 919-446-3232, or request a consultation using our online booking tool.