How to know when it’s time to start therapy

How to Know When It’s Time to Start Therapy

Why People Go to Therapy

People go to therapy for many reasons. A challenging life event, trauma, volatile emotions, relationship problems, poor mental health: all can prompt someone to seek it out.

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Why Therapy?

Sometimes, our minds work against us. Therapy can help you understand why you think, feel, or act how you do and give you the skills you need to think, feel, or act in healthier ways. This includes helping you:

• Identify, understand, and overcome internal obstacles
• Identify and challenge thought patterns and beliefs that are holding you back
• Improve your mental health
• Cope with mental illness
• Create lasting changes to your thoughts and behavior that can improve all areas of your life

When Your Mental Health is Suffering

Everyone experiences negative emotions in difficult situations – like sadness after a breakup or anxiety before a big life event. But when do these feelings become problematic? When you have poor mental health.

Mental health and mental illness are distinct, but related, concepts. Mental health refers to the inner resources you have to handle life’s ups and downs. You have good mental health if you enjoy life; feel connected to others; cope well with stress; and have a sense of purpose, a sense of self, and strong relationships.

If you have poor mental health, it can be hard to adapt to changes like a breakup, move, loss, or parenthood. Therapy can help you improve your mental health, develop resilience, and maintain a state of well-being.

Mental illness refers to distressing disturbances in thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that interfere with daily life. There are different kinds of mental illness, each characterized by different thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Mental illness may feel like:

• Hopelessness – feeling stuck, unmotivated, or helpless
• Apathy – feeling uninterested in things that used to give you satisfaction or pleasure
• Anger – feeling rage or resentment, especially frequently or disproportionately
• Stress – feeling overwhelmed, unable to cope, unwilling to rest, or like everything is hard (even if you know it shouldn’t be)
• Guilt – feeling ashamed, undeserving of good things, or deserving of bad things
• Anxiety – worrying about what has or might happen or having disturbing intrusive thoughts
• Exhaustion – sleeping more than usual, having difficulty getting out of bed, or lacking energy during the day
• Insomnia – having difficulty falling or staying asleep

What if Therapy Didn’t Work Before?

Many people put off going to therapy because they don’t think their problems are serious enough. But you don’t need a big, deep reason to start therapy. You can start therapy simply because you want to explore or change something about yourself or your life.

Therapy is a process. Whether psychotherapy works for you depends on many factors, such as time, effort, and your psychologist.

There’s no quick fix for mental health. Symptoms can take weeks, months, or even years to improve. Although this can be frustrating or disheartening, for therapy to work, you have to give it time.

Sometimes people go to therapy, but are skeptical or resistant. Therapy won’t work if you aren’t invested in it. For therapy to work, you have to put in the work.

What if I’m Not Ready?

There are several reasons why now might not be the right time for you to start therapy. Maybe therapy isn’t in the budget. Maybe you have other priorities. Maybe you’re scared to relive trauma. That’s okay. Therapy can be expensive and difficult, but also rewarding. Just because now isn’t a good time, doesn’t mean there will never be a good time.

If you don’t want to start therapy, don’t. However, it can be helpful to determine why you don’t want to.

Conclusion

Mental health affects 970 million people and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Everyone deserves to live a healthy, fulfilling life. Therapy can help you get there.

FAQs

• What are some common reasons people go to therapy?
  • A challenging life event, trauma, volatile emotions, relationship problems, poor mental health
• What are some benefits of therapy?
  • Understanding why you think, feel, or act how you do, gaining skills to think, feel, or act in healthier ways, improving mental health, coping with mental illness, creating lasting changes to your thoughts and behavior
• What are some signs of poor mental health?
  • Hopelessness, apathy, anger, stress, guilt, anxiety, exhaustion, insomnia
• What if therapy didn’t work before?
  • You can start therapy simply because you want to explore or change something about yourself or your life. Therapy is a process that requires time, effort, and the right psychologist for you.
• What if I’m not ready to start therapy?
  • There are several reasons why now might not be the right time for you to start therapy. Maybe therapy isn’t in the budget. Maybe you have other priorities. Maybe you’re scared to relive trauma. That’s okay. Just because now isn’t a good time, doesn’t mean there will never be a good time.