How Do I Know If I Need Counseling?

Good question.  Sometimes it is hard to know when to ask for help.  Adults often
wait until the last possible moment or when their lives begin to fall apart before they
ask for help.  Some indicators for the need for help may include:
  • Constant difficulties with family & friends
  • Problems functioning at work / keeping a job
  • Difficulties getting to sleep / staying asleep
  • Increased / decreased appetite or weight
  • Thoughts of suicide or ending it all
  • Distressing thoughts or images that won't go away
  • Fear of going crazy or out of control
  • Mood changes from one extreme to the other
  • Feeling anxious or on-edge in daily situations
  • Hearing voices (or seeing things) that others might not hear or see
  • Inability to handle seemingly minor stressful situations
  • Increase use of alcohol or other drugs
  • Being a victim of abuse or a crime
  • Chronic pain or poor health with (or without) a known cause
  • The persistent feeling that "something is just not right"

We have included some questionnaires on this website that may help you clarify
that "something is just not right" in how you think, feel, or act.  Click the link below to
take you to those questionnaires.
How Do I Know If I Need Medication?

Many adults have a fear of starting a medication, thinking they will become
dependent or even addicted upon that medication.  Others, however, have
discussed their problems with their primary care provider (physician, nurse
practitioner) and have been prescribed a medication that takes the edge off their
emotional and physical symptoms.  They actually feel better and are able to cope
with day-to-day stress.

The only people who may prescribe medications are physicians/psychiatrists,
nurse practitioners, and physician's assistants.  Coastal Counseling Center's
counselors & therapists are not licensed to prescribe medications.  We will,
however, work with your primary healthcare provider in coordinating your care and
assist that provider with attending to symptoms, benefits, and any side-effects.  

Medication plus Therapy
Sometimes people will ask, "Should I try medication or should I try therapy or
both?"  On the average, about half of the people will show improvement on
medication alone; about half will show improvement with therapy alone.  In most
cases, about 75% of people show improvement with both medication and therapy.  
Your primary healthcare provider and/or therapist will discuss suggestions with you.
How Do I Know If I Need To Go To A Hospital?

Just the though of psychiatric hospitalization scares most people.  Images of
straightjackets, patients walking around in a coma-like state, and "rubber-padded
rooms" often comes to mind.

               That was a stereotype of the old days.

Nowadays, a person is often in a comfortable & pleasant room, assisted by caring
medical staff & counselors, and wears one's own clothes.  Being admitted to a
psychiatric hospital is usually when a person experiences one or more of the
following:

  • Experiencing suicidal thoughts with an intent to act on those thoughts
  • Experiencing homicidal thoughts with an intent to act on those thoughts
  • Experiencing psychotic thoughts (e.g., hearing voices)
  • Using alcohol or other drugs and potentially endangering one's life
  • Unable to cope with daily living and a danger to self or others

The purpose of psychiatric hospitalization is to protect a person from further
endangering his or her life as well as the lives of others.  While in a hospital, a
person is usually started on a medication to ease the distressing symptoms (e.g.,
an antidepressant, mood stabilizer, antipsychotic, or a medication to reduce
anxiety.  Individual, family, and group treatment is provided to assist a person in
managing his or her symptoms or problems.

People admitted to psychiatric hospitals often stay between 3 - 14 days or until
they are stable enough to return home.  At discharge, a person will often be set-
up with a local physician and/or therapist for outpatient treatment if they do not
have one already.
Discussing your symptoms, your concerns about medication, and
questions about hospitalization are important issues to share
with your counselor.  Call us at 729-1120 to make an appointment.
Am I Normal?
Coastal Counseling Center
The term, "normal," brings to mind different things for different people.  One of
the most humorous definitions for normal was given by Erma Bombeck:







John Ortberg also has an interesting view:  "Everybody's normal till you get to
know 'em."  Normal may mean how a person functioned on a day-to-day basis
before the onset of the presenting problem.  Many people desire to return to that
level of comfort in their thinking, feeling, and responding before their life got out
of control.  Some may refer to this as their "baseline."  Others may consider their
current responses to stressors as their "new normal."  Either way, normal is
different for most everyone.
"Normal is a setting
on the dryer"
Hope ... Help ... Healing