Reader opinion In psychotherapy, many of my deep wounds were finally healed

Opinion|Reader’s opinion

Guest penwriting (HS 4.2.) it was noted that the primary health care guarantee legislation in the consultation process threatens to reduce access to mental health services. Psychotherapy and other psychosocial treatment would be excluded from the care guarantee.

It seems that the presentation has not been based on a sufficient understanding of the significance of these treatments. With my own example, I shed light on the profitability of psychotherapy.

My mind suddenly collapsed in high school, and I started getting panic attacks every day. I was hugely anxious, exhausted from school, and my studies were delayed. For two years, I went to talk to a psychiatric nurse, which momentarily improved my well-being. However, the symptom began again.

Four years later, I got into psychotherapy, and things finally started to happen. I was able to deal with my trauma with a safe person, and many of my deep wounds were healed. As the weight of the past eased, the stress also eased.

Now after nearly five years of therapy, my mind is more intact than ever before. I have learned to regulate my feelings and calm myself. I have learned to recognize my limit, and I am no longer exhausted. I have learned the interpersonal skills that have enabled me to form lasting friendships. What’s great about society – I’ve been able to study and even get a job and be a safe and balanced mother to my child.

The foundations of well-being are now so rocked in my life that I will survive with them. The change is permanent because psychotherapy shapes the nerve connections in the brain – so I’ve learned new patterns of thought and action in the “spinal cord”. However, such a big change is not achieved overnight, in a month or even a year. Indeed, it becomes a problem if long-term care is quickly needed to restore human well-being, and such care is not available.

Multi has not had access to psychotherapy, even if he had wanted and needed it. In some cases, the road has been broken at the beginning, when the process of accessing treatment has been cumbersome and long, and there have been no forces, for example, to find a therapist and seek rehabilitation. For others, the road has been blocked because they have not been able to pay the deductible for therapy, there are no annual payment ceilings. For some, therapy has been interrupted before more lasting results can be achieved because society’s support for treatment has run out and it has not been able to afford to fund the therapy itself.

According to the Parliamentary Audit Committee, the exclusion of one young person costs society about 25,000 euros a year, and the cost of permanent exclusion is about one million euros by the time a person turns 60. My own nearly five years of therapy, on the other hand, has cost society € 17,240. However, it pays for itself, given that I am not excluded from therapy but I graduate from school, pay taxes and am also able to promote the mental health of my children. So I ask if it is more economical to support those who want long-term therapy or to provide a patch for a deep, bleeding wound with a delay.

Enna Lohi

Student of social sciences

Helsinki

Reader opinions are speeches written by HS readers, selected and delivered by HS’s editorial staff. You can leave a comment or read the principles of writing at www.hs.fi/kirjtamielipidekirjoitus/.