Psychological education is essential for understanding and managing mental disorders. By teaching it, it allows individuals to feel less alone, regain control, and adopt new habits for lasting well-being.
I constantly see people being diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders; they feel bad, but don’t really understand what’s happening to them. Yes, when we spend fifteen minutes in the doctor’s office, we can’t come out of it with a deep understanding of such complex issues. That said, I don’t blame the doctors—they’re overwhelmed!
Here is a formal definition of psychological education:
“Psychological education is the teaching of knowledge and skills aimed at maintaining and improving autonomy or health. It helps to prevent the onset of mental disorders or the deterioration of mental state.
The teaching may cover, for example, the nature of the mental disorder, its manifestations, its treatments, the role the person can play in maintaining or restoring their health, and also techniques for stress management, relaxation, or assertiveness.”
My colleagues and I at PAE360 have noticed that psychological education is literally a treatment and is essential in all our mobilization plans. First, realizing that one’s mental health issue is something normal that can happen to anyone reassures participants. They feel less alone on their island, which helps from the start. Then, learning about their symptoms, the contributing factors, and strategies to reduce or even control them, brings hope and engagement from the participants. They also understand that the more actively they participate in their recovery, the faster they will get better. They thus manage to find the motivation needed to reclaim parts of their life neglected for months.
We find that psychological education increases individuals’ awareness of the need to maintain mental health balance. It also helps see the breadth of factors interacting with mental health (lifestyle habits, physical health, social relationships, spiritual life). It raises awareness. It is often thanks to psychological education that a person will take action and understand the need for strategies like behavioral activation, cognitive restructuring, etc. When these strategies—acquired through psychological education—are set in motion, we see participants become able again to face their problems and find solutions.
Their sense of self-efficacy develops, and that’s reassuring for people. It also allows them to detect signs of possible deterioration. Generally, people will understand that it would be helpful to have a plan with strategies to apply as soon as they suspect a recurrence of symptoms. At that point, we’ve come a long way! For example, when someone feels their anxiety rising and has identified in their plan that yoga or meditation helps them manage their symptoms, they can put those means in place to calm down.
It is also not uncommon to see people adopt new routines in their lives to improve long-term well-being. The yoga or meditation mentioned in our example will likely become part of a new lifestyle to maintain balance. Oh, that sweet balance—how good it feels to find it again!
For me and my team, psychological education is a must!
Amélie, your mental health coach
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