Despite mushrooming awareness around mental health, there are a lot of stigmas associated with therapy wherein a large segment of people either do not get themselves an appointment with a psychologist or believe that it is only for those suffering from a debilitating mental illness. However, in actuality, you don’t necessarily need to be struggling or suffering to benefit from therapy.
If you think about it, going to therapy is like keeping a check on our emotional and mental well-being. Engulfed in the “hustle culture” it is easy for us to sprint our way through life but what we often forget is how crucial it is to pause, take a moment and understand how we’re doing underneath it all.
It could either be one event or a buildup of events (sometimes, suppressed emotions) or sometimes you might not even know what the concern is. Whatever the situation you might be in, it is critical to acknowledge your feelings wherein therapy assists you. When given a safe space to reflect on your emotions, you can truly unwind the past hurt or distress and thus, understand the underlying concern…where it all started! It is then that real healing can take place.
There might be certain things that you don’t feel comfortable sharing with people around you believing that you might be judged so, that one hour of therapy can help you unburden, tell your story, and feel validated. It’s not similar to the support that a family or friend provides. A therapist doesn’t give you advice or solutions, he/she listen to what you are saying and what you’re not saying. They assist you to discover what you want and need for yourself, where your emotions or symptoms could be stemming from, alongside strategies to help you feel better equipped. Someone once beautifully said, “The unexamined life is not worth living” So if we don’t understand ourselves, our strengths, and the vulnerabilities we possess, have we lived our life to the fullest?
Therefore, just like we get regular physical checkups, therapy becomes equally paramount because when we feel “stuck” or in pain, it becomes difficult to work on ourselves objectively. Consistently attending sessions can help us understand our behavioral patterns, thus leading to endless possibilities. While this might seem biased to you considering that I am a therapist, I can assure you that having been on both sides of the table, I have a therapist as well to help me figure out my patterns, someone who lends me an empathetic ear because I am human too!
Importance of Professional Counseling: A friend or family member may listen to you, but they aren’t professionally, technically qualified or experienced to offer you professional advice. If you wish you can contact us at MindTribe to receive help from our team of expert psychologists.
About MindTribe.in.
MindTribe Founder Dr. Prerna Kohli, India’s eminent psychologist, established the company to leverage the strength of the online to make counseling affordable and accessible to everyone. MindTribe provides counseling, workshops, support groups, forums, and eLearning.
About the Author.
Manushi Arora is a psychologist at MindTribe.in. You can learn more about her by clicking here
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of MindTribe.in, the Founders, or management team.
Acknowledgement: All images used are open source and from Unsplash.