One of the things I love the most about the younger generations is how destigmatized seeking mental health help is. Many people have therapy, and no one finds it weird or looks down on them for it. However, there are still many people who, even though they don’t judge others for seeking therapy, still have a certain resistance when it comes to getting help for themselves. So, here are five reasons as to why you should start therapy even if you believe you have never lived a traumatic event or have any mental health problems.
- Your Relationships Improve
I am talking about any relationship here: your relationship with your family, friends, partners, colleagues, as well as your relationship with food, working, school, and exercising.
Sometimes we project our traumas onto people without even realizing and that can be problematic. Going to therapy will help you identify your traumas and how to deal with them, so you don’t end up trauma dumping anyone.
Another point is that therapy helps you balance your relationships with other aspects of your life. If you are someone used to overachieving, you might end up overworking yourself to the point of exhaustion. Therapy will help you identify those behaviors and how to manage them, so you create healthy boundaries in all aspects of your life.
- You Start to Understand Your Needs
Once you start understanding how to manage your relationships, you learn what aspects of your life you need to work on too. You learn what you should be focusing on and what your needs are.
Maybe you have trouble with romantic relationships, and you realize you need some time alone. Maybe you fight with your parents a lot and realize you need to set boundaries. Maybe you are just feeling academically overwhelmed, and you need to decrease your workload and give time to your social life.
No matter what, therapy helps you identify those needs.
- You Make Sense of Events in Your Life
Sometimes you have traumatic events in your life that never leave your mind. And sometimes you have traumatic events that happened to you that you didn’t realize were traumatic until you started therapy.
No matter what, you and your therapist will work through these events and help you understand what they meant to you and how to walk through them. In addition, you will understand your feelings toward these events better and how to cope with what happened.
- You Learn How to Set Boundaries and Create Coping Mechanisms
Now that you learned how to improve your relationships and how to understand the events in your life, it’s time to create boundaries and coping mechanisms.
Boundaries are important for your well-being because they prevent you from being abused, taken advantage of, or overlooked. Coping mechanisms are important to learn to deal with negative emotions, panic attacks, depressive episodes, and all other stressful situations you might be in.
Once you have your problems identified, your therapist will help you develop boundaries to maintain the good relationships in your life and coping mechanisms to deal with the bad bits.
- You Will Always Have Someone to Talk to
No matter what, if you feel like no one you know understands you, now you have one person that is a phone call away from helping you.
It is important to note that you might not feel a strong connection with every therapist you talk to, so it is important to research your area for therapists who specialize in the problems you need treatment for. Don’t give up the search until you find someone you are comfortable with and feel like you can trust.