5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t be Afraid of Therapy.

Therapy; the treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder.

Disorder; the disruption of normal physical or mental function.

QUESTION!

Why do most young American have a negative feeling towards therapy?

As adults pushing aside therapy can be easier and sometimes reasonable. For example, I don’t have time. My kids are more important. I’ve lived this long, I think I can go a little longer.

For young teens or young adults it’s a completely different story; If I go that means there‘s something wrong with me. My friends and family won’t understand. People will think little of me or pitty me. It’s embarrassing. I don’t want to be labeled. I don’t want to be treated or seen differently. These are pretty common thoughts when debating weather or not to go.

Society can be harsh and unforgiving. Especially in the age of technology, where it can be so easy to get caught up in what a stranger might think online about you. We feel guilt for being who we are. This isn’t right. Cliche but it’s 2020 people. Get your act together. We need to start teaching the future that you shouldn’t be afraid of taking care of your mental health.

So, if you’re someone struggling with weather or not you should go to therapy, Here are 5 reasons why you shouln’t be afraid to:

Disclaimer: I am in no way a therapist or have any training in the mental health industry this list is comprised of personal experiences.

1. It’s empowering. Going to therapy and talking to your therapist is very empowering. You are not being criticized, you‘re actually being understood. Your therapist is trained to handle situations and understand how to react properly to your feeling. One of the most empowers parts of therapy is if you do get a diagnosis. (I know sounds weird.) The reason for this is purely because now you know that you are not alone. You start to understand yourself better; learning and growing more than you thought you could. There are now tools for you anywhere you turn to enhance you life.

2. There is no normal. In therapy you get to learn what’s normal...FOR YOU and yourself. Purely a selfish time to just bask in YOU’RE normal-ness. A trained therapist wilol always listen first and really get to know what’s normal for you. It’s important. You don’t need to be anyone else. Some things you might do normaly could be unhealthy and your therapist will let you know. They are there to cheer you on and slow down that Oreo binge eating at 3 am in the morning. Alot of habits can be created from mental heath disorders as coping mechanism and a therapist is there to help balance your mechanism and keep you on a healthy livable path.

3. Unlimited resources. Therapy is like a key to another dimension. Especially if you have a diagnosis. Why? Because you’ll start reading books about other people’s experiences...experiencing...your experiences. It’s kind of trippy and very helpful. This helps you find out what might work for you. Not everyone is exactly the same but reading or listening to others points of views will help. It also reassures that you’re not alone. You’re therapist will most likely give you tools to add to an imaginary toolbox in your brain. This toolbox is what will help you learn new coping skills and groove new pathways/habits into your brain to use.

4. You won’t sound crazy. Again, this is all due to the fact that you‘re not alone. When you first go to therapy you might tend to say, ...this will sound crazy, it’s kind of crazy, it’s just a crazy thing I do...But your therapist will most likley answer... no you’re not. Actually they might not even say the word. It’s like a curse word. ”Crazy” has become desensitized in society today. It‘s very offensive and misleading. It is used regularly towards people acting different then the majority. Don’t oversell yourself and say IM CRAZY. You‘re not! Society is crazy!

5. Improving relationships. You might think therapy will always be about you. Well, most of the time it is but knowingly or unknowingly you will improve you’re interpersonal relationships! Sometimes you’ll find out ways to communicated more efficiently towards the people you love or find tools to self love and trust so you can understand one another better. This can also help you figure out who are the real people that are important in your life.

Some Tips before you decide to go to therapy:

-Let someone important to you know. Just like if you were to start a new hobby, you’d let that person know. Same thing applies. It can be very relieving and it should be something you are proud about.

-Moodnotes; This is an app that helps you log and track your moods and emotions. There are many features on this app and I personally use it. It works amazingly for someone like myself who has a mood disorder. I think it wouldn’t hurt to use prior to therapy too. It’s user friendly And very aesthetic.

-Diary; An old diary can be extremly helpful for appointments. You won’t need to personally bring it to your therapist unless you choose too. You’ll just need to read it before hand so you can talk about things later.

-List of topics; Sometimes random intrusive questions will appear in our head or maybe you experiment smiliar things many times through out the day. Write is down on a list so you can better prepare yourself For a future appointment.

Disclaimer: I am in no way a therapist or have any training in the mental health industry this list is comprised of personal experiences.