Why Seek Therapy?
First of all, everyone can benefit from therapy. Yes, everyone! Therapy offers a rare opportunity to express hopes and fears without judgment or opinions.
Sometimes our experiences are beyond what we consider “normal.” Examples include major life changes, relationship conflicts, loss of a loved one, divorce, parenting concerns, trauma, depression, and anxiety. Your response to any of these concerns can be considered a “normal” human response to an “abnormal” (extremely stressful) situation. Highlighted below are some examples:
- Major Life Stressors – Career changes, moving, marriage, starting a family, and blended families can create a great deal of stress.
- Anxiety and Depression – Many people experience anxiety and depression. Tools and skills are available to cope with these experiences to decrease the potency they have over your life.
- Grief and Loss – With the loss of a loved one comes a variety of emotions (anger, guilt, denial, sadness, and shock). Many times people report feeling untethered, in limbo, lost. Although it feels anything but normal, this is part of the normal grieving process.
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – Those who experience life-threatening events may feel as though they are “broken” or “damaged.” They may feel that they will never return to the way they were before the traumatic experience. While this is true (we cannot go back in time), you can still have a good quality of life following a traumatic experience by working through the emotions with a qualified mental health therapist.
- Trauma – Any distressing or disturbing event can be traumatizing. This is different than PTSD because any event could be perceived as traumatizing on a spectrum, yet may not meet the diagnosis for PTSD. Traumas are good material for therapy, and can unlock years, even decades of blocked pathways, resulting in greater success and happiness in life.
If you need support, or are experiencing thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors that you would like to explore, consider, and possibly change, therapy may be right for you. Seeking therapy does not mean that you could not handle things on your own. It takes a great deal of courage to be willing to look within yourself and try new and different ways of being in the world. You are complete with everything you need to reach your full potential, sometimes people just need some help to discover and awaken their inner resources to reach that potential.
For some people, therapy is the only place where they can share their inner-most thoughts and feelings without feeling guilty, judged, or “bad.” The goal at Alexander Counseling Center is to create a safe, non-judgmental space for you to be able to safely explore your thoughts and feelings.