How do I know if I need therapy?
Our minds and bodies are linked together, so what affects one will usually affect the other and it’s very important to look after both. If you were to hurt your leg, you would see a healthcare professional about this as you could visibly see that it’s hurt, and you need treatment to support your leg to heal. If you were to notice that everyday feels difficult to manage, maybe you feel overwhelmed, distressed, anxious and this feeling can worsen overtime. It’s often helpful to talk to someone and seek help and support before it becomes worse and the sooner we seek support, often the better we feel.
Therapy doesn’t have to be when you feel you’re at a tipping or crisis point. Therapy can be extremely helpful when you first start to notice signs and symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress.
What can therapy sessions help with?
This is a very wide question! The reasons why we seek help and support through therapy can be for a number of reasons and therefore, therapy can help with a wide range of difficult experiences.
For example, therapy sessions might help us with:
- Relationship difficulties
- Coping with the loss of a loved one
- Changes in employment or even work stress
- Manage anxieties related to our health or even exam stress
- Manage symptoms to OCD, phobia, panic attacks
- Support you with overcoming traumatic experiences e.g. PTSD
- Increasing motivation and reducing depressive symptoms
Therapy looks at what is currently happening in your life, what goes through your mind, how you feel and what behaviours you’re currently doing. It can be helpful to build new ways of coping with worries or negative thoughts and increase helpful behaviours (such as reducing avoidance, drinking alcohol etc).
Just like your physical health, your mental health also takes time to recover, it needs nourishment, love, support and an outlet and therapy can help with this.
How do I start therapy?
If you think that therapy would be helpful or you’re not sure, you can book a free initial telephone appointment with one of our therapists who will listen to what you’re experiencing and discuss different therapy options with you, so at the end of the telephone appointment you have a plan and know the next steps!