Therapy is an old practice. Before clinical therapy, people sought religious counsel, talking about their problems and seeking advice for changing their ways. During treatment for mental health and addiction, therapy is in everything you do every day, as well as in individual sessions and group therapy sessions. After treatment, it is part of your relapse prevention planning to continue seeing a therapist regularly. Even after months of therapy, you might face the challenge of overcoming reasons not to go to therapy.
Shame And Stigma
Shame and stigma are a blockade for millions of people around the world who are struggling with a difficult past, a challenging present, and an uncertain future. Mental health diagnosis or not, there are plenty of people in need of just talking about what is going on in their lives. Shame puts a negative twist on therapy as if to say that people who seek out therapy are bad, weak, or failures. Stigma creates a stereotype around mental health and therapy which simply isn’t true. Talking is an essential of human connection.
Pride And Ego
Who needs therapy? We have too much pride to go to therapy. We don’t need therapy. Our ideas about therapy tend to be skewed. We think someone is going to tell us how to feel, how to think, how to act, what we say is wrong, and boss us around. Most talk therapists don’t do a lot of talking. Primarily, their patients do the talking. Therapists often take the position of leading their patients to the door of realization and breakthrough. However, only the patients can open the door and walk through it. Pride can get in the way of recognizing everyone needs a little help- even therapists go to therapy.
Fear And Doubt
Underneath pride and ego is fear and doubt. Everyone is afraid to get vulnerable in front of another person, which is, ironically, something therapy can help with the more you talk about it. At the core, we all have a fear that there might be something really wrong with us that we won’t be able to handle ourselves, or might make us unloveable to others. We feel we can live with the pain and problems we have. We might not be able to cope with a therapist telling us our problems are beyond fixing. This of course rarely happens. Therapy can help resolve problems and create real change. Research has found that people who go to therapy resolve their issues 30-40 years ahead of others who do not seek any kind of therapy.
Is Therapy Right For You? You are the only person who can decide if you need therapy. If you are struggling with mental health or a situation in your life you cannot overcome on your own therapy may be a place to start. If you believe you are in need of residential treatment and long term care, call LEAD Recovery Center today. Our multiphase programs are designed to support healing while teaching clients how to live autonomously. Working with individual and group therapists, clients create health and balance in their lives, becoming leaders of recovery. For information, call us today at 800-380-0012.
