When to seek therapy:

     Sometimes you need to talk to  who can help... When you feel like you can't do it alone... When you feel trapped, like there's nowhere to turn... When you worry all the time, and never seem to find the answers... When the way you feel is affecting your sleep, your eating habits, your job, your relationships, your everyday life... When even the advice offered by family or well-meaning friends doesn't really help you feel any better.

     Recognizing the need for professional help is a good first step towards improvement. Therapy can be of real benefit, providing help for a wide range of problems such as depression, loss, marital strife, parent-child concerns, or emotional distress. It can also help fulfill aspirations for personal growth or or self-improvement. Therapy has one clear and definite purpose: that something of positive value and constructive usefulness will come out of it for you.

Some of the most common reasons for seeking help from therapy include:

Emotional Distress

From time to time, everyone experiences emotional pain. But sometimes the distress is particularly severe or long-lasting and interferes with your ability to function in your daily life. If you are experiencing sadness, grief, or anxiety that is persistent, therapy can help relieve the symptoms, address the underlying causes for your distress, and provide you with help in restoring emotional well-being.

Personal Growth:

Therapy can help you overcome obstacles that have kept you from reaching your goals and becoming the person you want to be. Although you might not have a clinical condition or symptoms, therapy can help you learn more about yourself, as well as others, and how you can live your life with deeper personal satisfaction.

Relationship Issues:

Your distress may be coming from difficulties in your relationship with a spouse, parent, child, co-worker or significant other. Therapy can be valuable in helping you understand the root of the problem and providing you with the understanding and skills you need to improve the relationship.

Coping Mechanisms:

Sometimes emotional distress or relationship problems are associated with coping mechanisms, such as excessive shyness, weak communication, lack of assertiveness, or poor anger control. Therapy can enable you to acquire or strengthen skills that can benefit many of the most important areas of your life.

Loss:

Experiencing a break from someone who is important to you (through death or separation) can result in great emotional pain. Therapy can be significantly helpful in coping with the loss.

Trauma, Violence or Abuse:

Victims of trauma, violence or abuse can feel so overwhelmed by feelings of fear, anger, or helplessness that their ability to function effectively is significantly impaired. Therapy can help provide a safe, confidential setting in which to discuss your victimization issues with a caring, supportive person and find ways to move forward with your life.

Sexual Problems:

While they can be embarrassing to talk about, sexual dissatisfaction and sexual dysfunction are very common problems. Therapy can help to understand and overcome issues that may be impairing sexual functioning.

Clinical Disorder or Condition:

Those who have certain disorders or conditions can benefit from an overall treatment plan which includes therapy and another form of treatment, such as medication. For instance, research shows that individuals with conditions such as ADHD, eating disorders, major depression or anxiety disorders benefit significantly more from a combination of therapy and medication than just medication alone.

Adapted from 4 Therapy Network.