Emotional experience is one of the central parts of human psychological and social life. Life being what it is, no one can expect to go through it without meeting painful, upsetting, anxiety-provoking and depressing situations. The problem begins when these emotions become so intense, so long-lasting or so frequent that they keep a person from adjusting to the demands of personal and social life. Emotional and behavioural disorders are a kind of emotional instability marked by the following:
– An acute or chronic inability to form and keep satisfying relationships with others.
– Acute or chronic behavioural maladjustment in situations that involve no particular pressure or threat.
Some of the behavioural and emotional signs that point to emotional difficulties:
– Sadness and low mood out of proportion to a person’s physical or environmental circumstances.
– Inability to think purposefully or to concentrate.
– Unjustified fears and worries, or very intense guilt.
– Severe and frequent mood swings.
– Extreme withdrawal from other people.
– Extreme withdrawal from everyday activities.
– Excessive tiredness, a constant sense of low energy, ongoing sleep problems.
– Inability to cope with everyday problems and stresses.
– Difficulty understanding situations and people and relating to them effectively.
– Misuse of, or addiction to, alcohol, drugs or stimulants.
– Marked, problematic changes in eating habits.
– Marked, problematic changes in sexual desire and interest.
– Intense anger, hostility or delinquency.
– Repeated, persistent thoughts of suicide.
– Thoughts cut off from reality (delusions) and unreal sensory experiences (hallucinations).
– At times, emotional disorders also show themselves as physical problems, such as stomach ache, back pain, headache, muscle pain and other complaints for which medical tests have found no clear biological cause.
How emotional disorders are resolved and treated:
Professional help for people suffering from emotional difficulties at different levels involves several main stages.
- Assessment by a psychiatrist or neurologist of possible biological causes of the emotional difficulties, including genetic factors and acquired neurological and metabolic damage, and any necessary medication.
- Assessment of the psychosocial causes of the emotional difficulties, such as weak adaptive skills, emotional communication skills, social communication skills, interpersonal problem-solving skills and so on.
- Assessment of possible underlying psychological problems, such as fixation at earlier stages of emotional development, a confused sense of self-confidence, low self-esteem, a negative self-image, exaggerated and unrealistic ideals, mistaken beliefs, harmful cognitive errors, unhelpful schemas and so on.
- Using professional counselling and psychotherapy to help the person resolve them.
Who is qualified to offer counselling and psychotherapy to people with emotional disorders?
– A counsellor or psychotherapist holds at least a master’s degree in counselling or clinical psychology. After graduating, they have completed further supervised placements under a specialist with a doctorate in counselling or clinical psychology, and they hold a practising licence from Iran’s Psychology and Counselling Organization.
– Some psychiatrists who have completed further training in counselling and psychotherapy are also able to offer counselling and psychotherapy, alongside treating emotional difficulties with medication.
* As someone using counselling and psychotherapy services, you have the right to ask any professional you see about the theoretical approach they use in counselling and psychotherapy, and about their training and professional licences.
Dr Bahman Bahmani, PhD in counselling, associate professor and faculty member, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences