Why See A Therapist?

Everyone experiences periods of stress, sadness, grief and conflict.  When you’re feeling off it can be hard to know if it’s time to see a professional about the problem. However sometimes people who would benefit from therapeutic intervention do not reach out for help.  This leads to needless suffering and distress that may increase the problem due to avoiding professional help. Sometimes people avoid seeking treatment because of the stigma and myths attached to seeing a therapist. Among them, the concern that only “crazy” people need psychotherapy or that accepting help is a sign of weakness, or that the treatment options will be time-consuming and expensive.

The thing is, life can be hard. The benefits of psychotherapy are more like stress-relievers such as exercising and eating well, which are all healthy strategies that help make life more peaceful and help to manage life stressors.
Sometimes an event occurs that feels too big to manage. For example, the pain of a death in the family, a breakup, or job loss can be enough to require a bit of counseling. Sometimes these feelings do not go away on their own. Grief from a loss can impair daily functioning and even cause you to withdraw from friends. If you find you aren’t engaging in your life or those around you have noticed that you’re pulling away, you may want to speak to someone to sort out how the event affects you.

Some signs that may indicate it’s time to seek help – you have feelings of low mood, overwhelm, your ability to function is reduced, your emotions feel too intense, or the feelings of irritability, anger, or sadness last longer than a few hours or days, and are occurring on a regular basis.