What Is the Best Treatment for Me?

The search for the best treatment for mental health issues can be exhausting. It may drive you down a path of seeking multiple psychiatric opinions, reading endlessly online, and trying to reconcile conflicting advice. This process alone can become overwhelming.

The truth is that the best mental health treatment for you is what ultimately works best for you in the long run. That answer may feel unsatisfying at first, but it reflects the reality that effective mental health care depends on multiple individual variables, ranging from your biology to the kind of relationship you have with your psychiatrist or provider.

The Technical Aspects of Psychiatric Treatment

From a technical standpoint, good treatment depends on accurate psychiatric diagnosis and an appropriate choice of treatment. It is reasonable to expect that a psychiatrist, as a mental health specialist, is better equipped to diagnose mental illness and choose appropriate treatment than a health professional who is not specialized in mental health. Choosing a psychiatric specialist is therefore essential, but that does not eliminate all the complexity and variabilityinvolved in treatment.

Not All Psychiatrists Are Alike

Unlike some medical specialties that rely on strict and highly standardized protocols, psychiatry offers a wide range of treatment approaches within what is considered standard of care. Some psychiatrists rely heavily on structured interviews and standardized questionnaires, while others make use of broader techniques that draw from psychoanalysis, relational psychiatry, and other psychological frameworks.

Both approaches can be valid. What matters most is how well a given approach fits your needs, personality, and treatment expectations.

Not All Mental Illnesses Are Alike

While diagnostic standardization is essential, over-standardization may risk losing the richness of individual experience.

The fact that two individuals are diagnosed with the same condition—such as major depressive disorder—does not mean that their illness is alike. Each depression may be uniquely shaped by an individual’s biology, developmental history, existential concerns, and current life stressors.

Depression symptoms can express themselves in many ways: in thoughts and internal experiences, and in behaviors such as sleep, appetite, motivation, and social engagement.

Not All Bodies Are Alike

If our psychology differs, the same is true of our biology. While humans are alike to a certain extent, we also harbor meaningful biological differences. These differences may seem small or subtle, but they can influence a variety of processes, such as how we think, behave, and respond to psychiatric medications. This helps explain why a treatment that works well for one person may be ineffective or poorly tolerated by another.

Not All Families and Cultures Are Alike

Family dynamics and cultural backgrounds shape how we think, feel, behave, and relate with others. Failing to attend to this cultural variability can turn a benign and culturally normative expression into something that is mistakenly labeled as a mental illness.

Understanding a person’s cultural and familial context is therefore essential to accurate diagnosis and meaningful psychiatric treatment.

Not All Treatments Are Alike

It is true that psychiatry and neuroscience still have a long way to go, and much remains unknown. At the same time, it is important to pay attention to evidence-based treatment, supported by scientific research, including higher levels of analysis such as meta-analyses.

However, no single scientific study accounts for 100% of human variability. Evidence-based practice must therefore be balanced with clinical judgment and flexibility, always aiming toward an individualized treatment plan rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Not All Relationships With Providers Are Alike

Therapeutic relationships vary widely, and what feels like a good fit differs from person to person. Some individuals prefer providers who are warm, inquisitive, and exploratory. Others feel more comfortable with a structured, symptom-focused approach centered on medication management.

There is no universally correct therapeutic style. What matters is whether the patient-provider relationship feels sufficiently safe, respectful, and effective to allow meaningful work to take place.

How to Make Sure You Are Receiving the Best Treatment

Setting realistic expectations is essential. Life is complex, and the mind’s processing of life can be equally challenging. Expecting “magic” solutions that eliminate all negative thoughts or feelings, or that lead to perfect thinking and behavior, is often unrealistic. Likewise, expecting that a psychiatrist is as attuned to your needs as an AI algorithm is unrealistic, as psychiatrists, like all people, are “imperfect”.

Having said that, trusting that a therapeutic relationship feels right is essential and may require some degree of comparison shopping. At the same time, flexibility is important, as the therapeutic relationship itself can become part of the treatment—even if you were convinced that all you receive from your psychiatrist are prescriptions.

For example, a person who struggles to assert their needs may avoid expressing concerns to their provider. Practicing assertion within treatment can be therapeutic.

Similarly, someone who tends to walk away from relationships at the first sign of frustration may benefit from attempting repair rather than immediate disengagement.

In fact, many providers informed by relational psychiatry and psychological theory are intentional in how they relate to patients and may base a significant portion of treatment on the therapeutic relationship itself.

Along these lines, it can be important to trust that a provider may challenge you thoughtfully and for a reason. While comfort and familiarity have value, treatment that never evolves can become stagnant. Psychological growth often requires tolerating some degree of purposeful and well-contained discomfort.

In Summary

The best psychiatric treatment is not a single diagnosis, medication, technique, or provider. It is an ongoing process informed by multiple variables—biological, psychological, social, and cultural individuality, therapeutic approach, and—most importantly—the relationship between you and your provider. Finding that fit takes time and patience, but it is often the most meaningful part of the work.

Helder Araujo, MD PhD

Am I Normal or Do I Need Help? When Is the Right Time to Seek Mental Health Support?

Am I Normal? Do I Need Help?

These are questions we often ask ourselves when life feels heavy or confusing. We all know there are many ways to feel, think, and behave—even if some patterns are more common than others. Yet, we may still wonder whether our ways are the “right ones.”

While life brings moments of joy, it also brings suffering—moments we often wish we could escape. At times, we may even ask ourselves: Am I suffering too much?

Suffering can arise from circumstances beyond our control, but sometimes we also hold ourselves responsible for our own pain—or even the pain experienced by others. It is natural to ask: Should I change my ways?

When Seeking Help Is Clear and Urgent

There are situations where it is clear that professional mental health help is necessary—when a person is in danger, putting others at risk, or unable to function at a basic level. In such cases, intervention is urgent and may even involve involuntary psychiatric holds. Please call 911 if you or someone you know is in any life-threatening situation.

If you are experiencing thoughts of self-harm or suicide, or are in emotional crisis, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat online at 988lifeline.org.

When Seeking Help Is Less Clear and Less Urgent

Outside of these extreme situations, a useful way to consider seeking help is to reflect on whether your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are impacting your personal life—how you experience your internal and external worlds, relate to others, and function in daily life.

Common examples of mental struggles include:

• Anxiety about small decisions may prevent you from enjoying moments that used to feel easy.

• Negative thoughts may make everyday interactions stressful, causing withdrawal from friends or loved ones.

• Frequent arguments or disconnection from people who matter to you can leave you feeling isolated.

• Daily routines like work, school, or self-care may feel overwhelming.

• Intense mood swings can leave you exhausted and uncertain about your reactions.

Observing patterns of suffering and disruption in one’s well-being and daily life can help you determine whether seeking mental health support is the right step. Sometimes, an outside observer—such as a friend or family member—may notice these struggles more clearly than we do ourselves. If you—or someone in your life—feel that these struggles are affecting your well-being, it may be time to reach out for professional help.

When Everything Seems to Be Right

Mental health, particularly through psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, can also be approached as a path to self-awareness—even when everything feels “right” and you do not experience obvious symptoms. This perspective emphasizes curiosity and self-discovery more than simple symptom reduction. It invites exploration of our challenges as windows into our conscious and unconscious experiences, offering insights that illuminate patterns from our past and present and provide a deeper understanding of ourselves.

Mental Health as Part of Your Life Journey

Wherever you are in life, there is likely room for mental health support. It all begins with the first step. When in doubt, seeking help is never the wrong choice. Even when everything feels right, mental health support may help you continue your journey of self-discovery and move closer to your true potential and well-being. And who wouldn’t want that?

— Helder Araujo, MD PhD