Nothing Needs To Be Wrong With You To Take Therapy

Living in a society which is completely ignorant to the concept of mental health, what if I told you nothing needs to be wrong with you to take therapy.

This article is a dedication to all the wonderful psychologists I know. You people make this world an amazingly better place to live in.

Let me break down why is it ok to seek help for your mental health just as you seek help for your physical health.

Take it from me not because I am a psychology student but as a fellow human being who also has her ups and downs in mental health.

Psychiatrist and Psychologist

The first thing if would like to address is the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

A psychiatrist is merely a medical practitioner who is mainly concerned about the physical aspects of the mental health problem like imbalance in the neurotransmitters or abnormalities in the brain structure and gives treatment and support in the form of medications and surgery. In most of the cases, a psychiatrist does not give a counselling or therapy (mostly in India).A psychiatrist holds an MBBS degree and specialisation in psychiatry.

Having said that, a psychologist is more considered about the thought process and behaviour aspect of an individual and aids in re-construction of rational thoughts and appropriate behaviour pattern.

A psychologist helps a troubled individual by helping him/her understand the origin and background of why they feel a certain way, their practised unhealthy behavioural pattern and negative thought patterns. They also help an individual in developing good and healthy thought process and behaviour thereby enabling an individual to live a holistic life with greater general well-being.

A psychologist holds a UG degree in psychology along with specialisation in PG level and might extend to M.Phil and PhD in psychology.

Now that I have explained the most common misassumptions, let me tell you why taking therapy is ok and doesn't deserve the stigma it holds.

It is ok

First of all, let me ask you something. A complete body check-up seems to be ok. Visiting a dentist for a regular check-up seems to be ok. But why is that getting closure about yourself and shredding the baggage you have been carrying since the day you were born seems to be not ok?

While it is a popular notion that only people with mental disorders seek a psychologist and damage to mental health is irreversible, let me tell you that they all make no sense.

Seeking a psychologist doesn't make you a psycho or an abnormal person. It's just that our mind and soul needs to be fed and detoxified every once in a while. As idealistic as I might sound seeking therapy is just as normal as seeking doctor for a common cold.

Few of them hold the belief that a psychologist/therapist just talks, talks, and only talks and gives advice. But that is not the reality.

A psychologist is a person with a high level of self-awareness and helps their client deal with their problems on their own by teaching them coping techniques.

A psychologist only guides and doesn't force or advice a person to do something. Guidance is enabling a person to develop the ability to pick up decisions on their own. Most important of all is that a good psychologist is the most non-judgemental person on earth.

A psychologist uses therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy, Gestalt psychology and much more.

A psychologist simply didn't spend 5 years and more of their life majoring in psychology to talk, talk and only talk :)

Benefits of taking therapy:

1) Understanding about yourself and developing abundance of self-acceptance and self-love

2) Understanding why we follow a certain pattern of thought process, behaviour and enabling to change them.

3) Becoming the best version of ourselves that we can be.

4) Becoming more productive and developing an interest in what we like.
In most cases, first of all, identifying what is your area of interest. It is deeply sad that most people pass off their lives without even exploring what their area of interest is.

5) Developing more positive and healthy relationships with others.

6) Accommodating and learning to cope with the environment and knowing to set healthy boundaries

7) Most important of all loving and accepting others for what they are and becoming an individual of positive vibes

Seek a psychologist before it spoils your interpersonal relationships:

A lot of people have the privilege of sharing their problems with their best friend, sister, spouse or a very close person. While I don't find any fault in it but keeping this as a pattern and always brooding over your problems to our loved ones might spoil the relationship you have with them.

Our loved ones can only take up a considerate amount of your problems and sometimes they might be fighting with their own set of problems. A loved one often gets angry, upset and disappointed when they know we have been going through a rough phase. That is only because they love us a little too much.

Also, they can only advise us based on what they know because they don't know how they would react if they were really in our situation.

While a psychologist doesn't advice but guide you to face your problems on your own and enables you to become a better version of yourself. A psychologist also paves way to development of a better individual thereby creating a better society.

If spending for a psychologist seems too much and as a waste of money, then so does impulsive shopping and binge eating we do to cope with our emotional turn-offs.

Hey, come on this person just spent their life studying about your life so that you can live happily. Don't you think they deserve a pat on their back?