Can’t afford therapy for depression? (5 key Tips)

This blog post will help you understand about ‘’can’t afford therapy for depression’’ and explain the topics like helpful options if you can’t afford a therapy for depression, mental health apps for when you can’t afford a therapist and tips to deal with your life without seeing a therapist. 

Can’t afford therapy for depression

Therapies can help you recover from your past pains, increase your confidence, and make you feel better on your path. Therapies have a positive influence on the person suffering from depression. But unfortunately, average session can cost from $75 to $200 which can be unaffordable for some people. 

Overcoming depression can be difficult if therapy is not an option. So if you are struggling here are a few tips that may help if you can’t afford a therapy for depression.

• Speak to your employer if you work in a company

Ask your HR department if they have an Employee Assistance Program if you are employed by a corporation (EAP). This is a company-funded advantage that provides staff with a variety of work-related and personal issues with confidential advice and support. This may not be offered by all employers, but it’s definitely worth finding out.

• Ask about free counselling services at educational institution

Free counselling sessions can be provided by your school, college or university. You will find out more and get mental health resources at Student Minds-ask a teacher about it or talk to the Student Union. You may also be given discounted rates for private counselling as a student.

• Check with your insurance

If you have insurance, ask your insurance plan to give you a list of providers who are either in your geographical area or who specialize in the problem you are seeking help with. You will have to pay just a small co-pay. However if the insurance doesn’t cover treatment, get the specifics of what they do cover. For example, the words “social worker,” she said, can also include the policy.

• Try a training clinic

Training clinics provide a sliding scale for customers. They are usually housed at universities where graduate students train to become clinical or counselling psychologists. There students are “trained and supervised by licensed psychologists who usually have years of experience with particular conditions of mental health.

• Try a community mental health center

Community mental health facilities offer free or low-cost care options and services covered by Medicaid insurance.

• Read self-help books

Read books when you are depressed as it is recommended by therapists. It can help narrow down the choices and allow you to concentrate on resources of quality.

• Attend support groups

Usually, support groups are free or at least more economical than individual care. They can be run by practitioners or colleagues in mental health. Try to engage in moderate support groups. Sometimes groups run by the individuals in the community seldom function. It should be an organized system where things are run by a dispassionate person.

• Meditation

Meditation tends to produce less depression and anxiety. Its purpose is not to push aside stress or avoid negative thoughts but notice these thoughts and feelings. 

• Exercise

Physical activity like exercise is important for less depression and anxiety. It makes you feel more positive and confident.

• Share with a friend

Sharing with a friend or a closed family member can help you a lot. They can give you sincere advice and support you selflessly. 

• Get a pet

Pets can help you with depression. Keeping a pet will keep you busy and happy rather than staying all alone. 

• Blogging 

By blogging you can share your story as you never know who is reading your posts or who you will inspire. Writing down your emotions can help you track your feelings. 

Mental health Apps as therapy alternatives

For people who can’t afford therapy may be interested in mental health apps. Since technological advancement, smart phones and tablets are geared towards helping with mental health through various apps. Following are the apps that can be used as an alternative to therapy:

• Calm
• Mind Shift
• What’s Up
• Talkspace
• Quit That!

Calm

Calm is a free app with the goal of reducing anxiety and enhancing sleep through meditation for Android and Apple users. It help users to concentrate, relax and eventually live healthier lives by providing meditation sessions for different time limits. It will keep a track of daily streaks and time spent in meditation. For people new to meditation, it is particularly effective. Due to its advanced options, it is considered one of the best mental health applications for those who can’t afford therapy.

Mind Shift

For young people with anxiety, Mind Shift app is specially designed and available entirely free. The purpose of this app is to get users to change their ways of thinking about anxiety and things which make them anxious. This encompasses different kinds of anxiety, such as social anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, and generalized anxiety disorder. As per the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, it provides lists of coping mechanisms to combat these different types of anxiety disorders. 

What’s Up

What’s Up uses well-known and productive methods of therapy such as Acceptance Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and provides users with platforms to engage with each other. Users can keep a track of their emotions in a log. This helps to foster good behaviors and to break negative habits. 

Talkspace

In order to help cope with a variety of mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, stress and even sickness, Talkspace enables users to interact with licenced therapists. Talkspace isn’t free, but compared to seeing a therapist in person, it is very fairly priced. It includes a paid subscription where users can get in touch with a therapist as often as many times a day. It supports email, voice or video chat sessions to allow users to select the choice that makes them more relaxed.

Quit That!

Quit it! It is an app that is intended to help users avoid addictions like to cut down on caffeine, alcohol or drug abuse. Another cool aspect is that, after leaving these bad habits, it shows users how much money they have saved.

Tips to deal with your life without seeing a therapist

Don’t be a self-centered person 

Many people are facing depression because they live excessively in their own heads. Thus they become prone to listen to a constant inner dialogue of judgment and criticism like they are not good enough, pretty enough, strong enough. It begins with a raw emotion, anguish, hopelessness, loneliness, despair, sadness and anxiety. Later on these emotions can become emotion-driven thoughts, which can become false beliefs

Be transparent 

Being transparent to yourself makes you clear about your authentic needs and desires. It is your Solid Self, the true you. Try not to live according to a fake version as it prevents growth. Don’t seek other people’s approval.

Never own your anxiety 

Whatever happens to you is like a gift from God. Try to learn from them and don’t own the event, person or experience in question. Thus it won’t have power over you. We tend to create anxiety from these life events whether positive or negative. If you choose not to own your anxiety, it can’t own you.

Have firm non-negotiables

We all compromise too much, I believe. In our work, our relationships, our limits, our time, our passions, our happiness and our wellbeing. But remember this: you are flimsy without non-negotiables. You’ve got no center of gravity. You’re not aware of who you are.

How do you know where you’re going if you don’t know who you are? Floating in the ocean, you become a piece of driftwood. You’re confused and you’re stagnant. You’re compromising your needs. You fall into relationships that are abusive. Depression you fell through. You start thinking that you’re useless.

Live inside out

Money, career, cars, aesthetics, other people’s opinions are considered external objects and they never define us. Try to be a true version of yourself. Stop comparing with others, with a constant desire to chase what’s outside of ourselves. Often, living inside out means not keeping emotions inside. Trapped emotions turn into frustration and rage. We end up bearing the weight of this.

Expand your bright spots

Everything has bright spots, but they are unknown to others. Obsessing about the future and reflecting on the past, we are so distracted that we don’t consider them when they happen. The more conscious you are of your bright points, the more the brain is conditioned to appreciate the little things in life. Your days will feel better, brighter.

Conclusion 

This blog post addressed the topic, “can’t afford therapy for depression’’. We understood that the article outlined helpful options if you can’t afford a therapy for depression and mental health apps for when you can’t afford a therapist. This article also suggested tips to deal with your life without seeing a therapist.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):’’ Can’t afford therapy for depression

References

Life, V., 2021. How Can You Beat Depression When You Can’T Afford Therapy?. [online] My Rockin Disabled Life. Available at: <https://myrockindisabledlife.com/2020/08/31/how-can-you-beat-depression-when-you-cant-afford-therapy/> [Accessed 6 January 2021].

Healthline. 2021. 5 Affordable Therapy Options. [online] Available at: <https://www.healthline.com/health/therapy-for-every-budget#intro> [Accessed 6 January 2021].

Tartakovsky, M., 2012. What To Do When You Can’t Afford Therapy. [online] Psych Central. Available at: <https://psychcentral.com/blog/what-to-do-when-you-cant-afford-therapy#1> [Accessed 6 January 2021].