A world where everyone seems to win and achieve everything, or at least post that they’re achieving everything, looks very depressing for people who haven’t been able to figure out what to do in their life. This is where mental health issues start taking a toll on a person.
Every third person we know is suffering from mental health issues like anxiety, depression, etc. Although there are anti-depressants, you’d better be off without them. When you’re dealing with mental issues, medicines are not the one-stop solution you’re looking for, therapy is.
Therapy is a powerful tool in promoting mental health and emotional well-being.
It is a way to communicate with people when they’re suffering and help them out by understanding the kind of help they need. For instance, Christopher Gustafson at Therapyjourney.co has a keen interest in helping out individuals struggling with their mental health, so if you’re looking for a therapist, you may look up their page.
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Understanding Therapy
Therapy is the type of treatment that helps individuals by providing a safe space for them to open up about their insecurities and the root cause of problems or anything that is bothering them. It is a catalyst for health by providing the individuals with the support they are looking for.
Therapy involves talking to a trained mental health professional who understands what you’re going through and aids you accordingly.
Role of a Therapist
Now that Therapy only involves talking, why can’t we simply talk to a stranger or a friend, perhaps? Because therapists are trained professionals who’d ask you relevant questions while you’re trying to express yourself and not intrude any more than you want them to, that too with a solemn promise of maintaining secrecy. Whereas talking to a stranger or a friend will have you answering questions that might link back to your personal experiences that you may not want to share, they may even ask questions that you’re probably not willing to answer, which is even more depressing and the major drawback being that there is little to no chance of your secrets being secrets.
Approaches to Therapy
Therapists use different approaches or techniques, depending on the individual, to help them overcome the challenges they are going through. Below are some common approaches to therapy that therapists use:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT is a therapy based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. CBT is an approach that helps individuals recognize negative thought patterns causing emotional distress and change them for their betterment.
- Psychodynamic therapy: Psychodynamic theory analyzes the unconscious mind and understands how it influences behavior. It addresses concerns relating to an individual’s past or unresolved conflicts in their relationships.
- Humanistic Therapy: It is a person-centered therapy that aims at facilitating personal growth and self-discovery. In this approach, therapists help an individual to realize his potential and work with utmost confidence towards what he desires to achieve.
Therapy and Mental Health
As said earlier, therapy is an effective tool for individuals struggling with mental health issues such as trauma, depression, anxiety, or stress about relationships. It helps people cope with their problems better, and as it’s said, it feels better after you talk about it; therefore, therapists aim at allowing the individual to speak their heart out without any judgments or prejudices, which in turn creates a safe space for them.
However, these approaches may work for someone and may not work for the other person. We all are born different with different personalities and desires, and hence, we might need different approaches to understand ourselves.
Benefits of Therapy
Therapy acts as a catalyst for personal growth and development. It opens doors for you where you get to understand yourself a little better by opening up about what you’ve kept hidden for so long. Therapy provides you with a safe space, helps you interact, boosts your self-esteem, improves communication skills, and much more.
Empathetic Understanding
Therapy, as I said, offers a safe space. Therapists provide genuine understanding towards individuals so that they feel that the right person is hearing them. They even sometimes suggest solutions, depending on the scenario, to help out the individual.
Enhanced Self Perception
Therapy helps individuals to dive deep within themselves. It involves deep talking sessions where the individual talks about what is triggering the stress or what he is distressed about, which in turn brings out various scenarios of his life related to him.
From the conversation, therapists pick up the weaker points of individuals and help them get over it and make them realize their worth.
Developing Adaptive Strategies
As unpredictable as life is, it can present you with situations where a long-forgotten memory surfaces on the floor, making you anxious and stressed out. Therapists equip individuals with certain coping skills that help them deal with stress. They also empower individuals with effective problem-solving skills, giving them a little more control over their lives.
Cultivating interpersonal bonds
Having healthy relationships in life is a blessing, and they can have major effects on your mental well-being. If you’re going through a tough phase dealing with relationship problems, therapy might help you out. Therapists provide you with space where you can explore yourself and the people around you and even give you advice on how you can improve those relations, which might solve a lot of problems because sometimes you need to see a situation through a third person’s perspective.
Individual Development and Self-actualization
Once you learn to manage emotions, you better understand what you feel. Controlling how something affects you solves a lot of problems. Therapy encourages people to understand themselves better and realize their true potential.
The majority of us assume that we are the only ones going through such tough phases of our lives, and everyone else achieves and gets whatever they want, which is not true. No matter what social media fools you into believing know that the maximum percentage of people are struggling and yet posting happy pictures.
Conclusion
Unlike the people quote, seeking help in the form of therapy isn’t a weakness. It’s rather a healthy approach where you are taking care of yourself for a better and happy life ahead.
These days, when people are so easily available over social media, it almost seems ironic that in real life, people are struggling to talk to even one person with a genuine interest. Well, to be honest, social media is not the right place to interact with people, especially if you want to share something personal.
There are resources available, always. You just need to find the right people to share your concerns with. After all, it always seems better to have someone you can speak to without the fear of being judged.
