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I don’t believe in professional help either. Try to go to church and pray.

Therapy can help you identify the things in your life you can change to improve your sense of well-being, peace and self-esteem. Therapiest can teach you ways to cope with stress.

Story,

I like ur coffee ceremony example…there is definitely some truth to it…

Im still clueless about therapy! I still don’t know its purpose!

Bez–thats my favoret line from Catch22 (insane vs sane)

I can speak more for Chicago residents…I recommend Northwestern’s Family Institute. There are a few locations including downtown Chicago and Evanston. It is totally sliding scale– as low as 5$. They offer individual therapy, not just family therapy. Their web site is http://family-institute.org/.
In DC i have heard good things about George washington university counseling center and also International counseling center..Do your research though..Google them…Good luck!

well, if you know you are “crazy” and seek help, then you are not actually crazy. If you are “crazy” but do not know it, then my friend thats when you are actually crazy. Hence, thats is why the real “crazy” ones think their actions make sense and go on killing sprees and shit, because they do not believe (nor aware) that they are crazy enough to need professional help.

Perception is reality my friend.

@justsaying: tell a little more about your experience. And please name,list the facilities where people can get free help. Luckly I am insured and can obtain access to expensive care….

If you are worried about money they will work with you..you just have to let them know. There are even place you can get counseling for free..community counseling ya those are preety cheap or free. As far as too many sessions its individual based some might be short and some might be longer.Don’t let that stop you:)…speaking from experinece.

Shouldn’t you first have to see a therapist before you can know its helpful or not. if you haven’t tried it or have no friend who has been there, how do you know? There are a variety of therapy and I sense all is not for everyone but some may be effective and some people (read Tony Soprano) seek it for petty stuff like how do you give orders to kill and still be a normal person , but who am i to judge.

I haven’t been to one, but my objection would be, its damn too expensive without insurance and takes too many sessions and requires complete exposure (keep your cloth on)to see a difference. But if you have insurance and got a problem that just wont go away, please go to a doctor and talk about it or some kind of support group–you can even establish it if it does not exist. My prejudice: stay away from the meds; and the booze and the rest if you want real painful healing over an escape.

There is western and then their is MULTIcultural Therapy for people like us…look it up you know what im saying…

There is a very faded line between abnormal and normal. Even the shirks are not sure how to draw the line, for someone that is doubting if they have crossed it or not, i would say hold on to the therapy and try out some good old buna.

Plus, “western therapy” is totally, like not culturally sensitive. It’s like you know. Like, I dunno. I mean. You get my drift. Totally like a different lingo. [disclaimer: writer doesn't practice this way of communication but her other personalities might]

I could not have said it better Totit…Friends are great but they do not have the tools to let you explore and go deeper than the surface. Freindes are there to make you feel great about yourself and hardley let you face your demons. Where as the Therapiest knows what questions to ask and knows how to go about helping you with your issues together. Thats when you can truly explore and know yourself. Why are we so preoccupied with the notion of ” oh thats western BS”!…try it before you knock it.

Story, there r different type of therapy available out there. U can not just dismiss everything. Therapy is not only there to share ur problems with a person, but it also helps u to be truthful to urself. It helps u tap into the level of the subconscious and even go deeper than that. It gives u a tool to not only see ur thought process, but it can show u ways to be in control of ur actions and behaviors. It gives you a chance to be aware of your surrounding and be more responsible. Yeah, we all have friends to discuss all kinda of stuff with. But we are somehow always fronting, even to our friends, without knowing it. Well I am a great fun of therapy. I have seen it do wonders.

YEs i do get your point but therapy is not our culture in a way! It seems white culture. I mean they go to therapy coz they got no real friends or family to talk their issues with. I got plenty of friends I can tell my issues to over coffee. So why pay someone to listen to me? I think therapy is for whites coz in their culture they got no close ppl. If u notice they always walk with dogs and animals. But I do agree if you got serious mental illenss you need psychiatric help. For little issues i don’t think so what is coffee ceremony for then.

Thats exactly my point im not saying you have to be mentally ill to have issues..im just saying why not seek therapy for it..Do you get what im saying?

Munit, what about my help? I aint professional.

Marriage counselors, therapists, Psychiatrists,
Are fine.
But, they don’t give me peace of mind
Because, what keeps me from my honey
Is money!

Source: Anonymous

Sophie
Im speaking from experience. Some men are healthy in the brain but they feel their manhood is based on how they control the women because maybe they come from that type of culture. So god forbid the woman seeks separation/divorce this will mean the healthy man wants revenge out of selfishness he will plan out her murder. that is why they go to jail because they are healthy in the brain it takes a healthy brain to plan out violence especially our men they commit suidice after they murder their wives that is total awarness only totally healthy brain can do that. I agree with you this type of men need therapy to control their anger but they are not mentally ill. menatal illenss is loss of reality they cannot plan out such things if they commit it it’s without awareness. i hope i made sense.

Dear Story…I think domestic violence could be part of mental illness( not like chemical embalance)..if you can not control your anger you need some help would you agree? So then that would mean you need to talk to a professtional right? but i don’t think we as Ethiopians believe talking to a professtional would help but we are wrong its better to talk to someone and find a solution than the ones we have been hearing about and i dont think its an extreme example bacause its not it really happend people.

Definitely agree with the post. Mental health issues are taboo in the Abesha community….BIG TIME! The example mentioned in the case above is an extreme one, but there is so much that can be done before clinical depression and other forms of mental illness in the community reach an extreme point (nervous breakdown, psychosis..,or even a long drawn out sad and anxious life etc..). I think community organizers need to do a lot of work in destigmatizing mental illness via all available networks (friendship, family, religious, professional,…). People would learn to the identify the symptoms (on themselves and others) before it’s too late. It should be common knowledge that mental illness is very diverse and common and not always the stereotypical “ibdet” abeshas seem to associate it with. Unexpected life circumstances and events can push anyone into depression and other forms and varying degrees of mental illness and in most cases people can completely recover with proper medical care, including psychotherapy and medication.

But you first have to admit what you’re doing is wrong and realize that you need outside help. I doubt that crosses the minds of “crazy” people.

From what i read in your story you put blame on domestic violence on mental illness. That is totally wrong. It is the mentally healthy husband that plans out the murder of his wife mostly because she is about to leave him. He mapped out how and where he will do it then he kills himself. why did he kill himself? Because he is mentally sane he is aware that what he did. The mentally ill on the other hand if he does something like that he does it without planning and after doing it he would still have no clue what he commited. I agree with you that our culture has to be open to take mental illness serious but i disagree that it is the cause of violence.

Anonymous, great article.

i once told a friend of mine who was at his late 20s to seek therapy. his respose was ” habesha people don’t need therapy they just need to go to church.”

i thought, ok. he is even more insane than i thought, and
i still think he needs some kind of help.