How do I know that therapy will help me?

How do I know that therapy will help me?

For so many of us, there are times when life becomes overwhelming. The usual stresses and strains of life ebb and flow, and sometimes, we can deal with them. But at other times, we can find it increasingly difficult to cope with these ups and downs.

Work stress, family and childcare issues. Financial worries, strained or abusive relationships and difficulties expressing our sexuality. They can all take their toll on our mental health. We might have been able to deal with a problem once. But when it feels too big to manage or it comes at a time when we’re already juggling too much, we can really struggle.

This struggle can then impact all aspects of our life. Our work, home life, social life and relationships can all be affected. Even the lifestyle and dietary choices we make can change. We’re then in a vicious cycle of stress, anxiety or depression or another mental health condition we have might feel worse. We can then feel like it’s all too difficult to get out of and we find ourselves in a downward spiral.

In order to help, we might be vaguely aware of counselling. Or we might have tried it before with little or no success. But with the right counsellor, and at the right time, counselling can be extremely beneficial.

How counselling can alleviate your concerns, distress or anxiety

Understandably, you might have concerns about talking to someone about how you’re feeling. You might be worried that it’ll be difficult, or that it won’t work. Or even that it might ‘go on your record’ and you’ll be stigmatised for life. (We can assure you that all counselling is treated with the strictest confidence and will only involve your GP if you want it to or you’re in danger.)

But the benefits of counselling are multiple…

Counselling can help many different mental health problems: From anxiety and depression to disordered eating and trauma management, counselling can help you make sense of your feelings and the why behind them. It can then provide practical steps to help you ease yourself into better mental health.

Your counsellor will listen without judgement: Whether online or face to face, your sessions are for you. That can mean talking, crying, getting frustrated or taking time to think about and process your thoughts. You will never feel judged or criticised, only supported and understood.

A problem shared is a problem halved: This might not be strictly true. But most people say that regular counselling helps them better cope with their problems. Even if their problems don’t go away completely, they feel better equipped to manage them. Counselling also often makes negative thoughts and feelings feel less overwhelming. This can then lead to positive change in an individual’s life.

Counselling can benefit areas you may not have considered: Having regular sessions with a counsellor helps to make more sense of your thoughts and feelings. But these sessions can also help to improve your interpersonal skills and the way you communicate with others. They can also help you better manage any stress and emotional outbursts and can improve your self-confidence and sense of being. You may also find that you can make decisions and solve problems more effectively and manage conflict less emotionally.

Knowing when to seek counselling

When you’re feeling anxious or depressed, it can be hard to make the decision to seek counselling. Finding the ‘right’ time might add to your sense of overwhelm. But when you’re feeling in a constant state of overwhelm, it’s the right time to find a counsellor.

Other signs that you could benefit from therapy now, include feeling sad or angry most of the time or feeling unable to enjoy the things that used you used to take enjoyment from. Feeling trapped, out of control, unable to control your emotions or that no one understands you are all also signs that now could be the right time to begin counselling.

Sometimes, you may feel none of those things. But if you feel like you need to make more sense of your life or that you simply be listened to, then the right time is probably now.

Everyone is suitable for counselling. There are no ‘good candidates’ or ‘bad’ ones. If you’d like to explore the possibility of counselling and discover how it can benefit you, get in touch with us here at MyMind today. We truly could be the answer to your happier, more settled future self.