Should I Have A Brain Scan?

Each year a small number of people seek help for psychological problems and that help is unsuccessful. The person seeks another psychotherapist or counseller or psychologist. The same outcome follows. Eventually the person goes for a brain scan. It reveals minor damage, and that damage explains the problems for which the person sought therapy.

By contrast, the good news is that the vast majority of people who seek psychological help have no brain damage.

How then do you answer the question: Should I Have A Brain Scan?

If you have had therapy,

AND you have implemented the recommendations made by the therapist,

AND you continue to carry out those recommendations,

AND the problem persists,

then the possibility that your problem is caused by minimal brain damage increases.

Any effective therapist would alert you to this possibility.

That would be a wise time to discuss with your GP the possibility of a brain scan.

However, there are other explanations for the pattern above: some people become addicted to therapy, and however much therapy they have the problems that brought them to therapy do not abate. For therapy addicts a brain scan simply reinforces their problem. Of course, there is an extremely rare group: those for whom therapy addiction is a symptom of minimal brain damage.

Back to the key point. If you have had multiple episodes of therapy and your problem persists, or worsens, then a brain scan may be wise to rule out brain damage as a cause.

Most psychological challenges are not related to brain damage, and for the vast majority of people subtle changes in approach to life can have a hugely positive effect, without the need for a brain scan.

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