When is Therapy Helpful?
Everyone experiences times in their lives when they feel depressed, anxious, and stressed out. People may get stuck in difficult problems with relationships, or have trouble making important choices about their lives. Most of the time, these emotions and difficulties are part of a normal, healthy life. Sometimes, though, the problems become overwhelming, and they interfere with your ability to make your life work. Sometimes the symptoms of anxiety and depression reach a serious level, where you can't "work it out" by yourself.
If you have been struggling with problems for some time, and you are feeling frustrated and stuck, therapy might help you to move on. If your problems are affecting your relationships, your work, or your feelings about yourself, therapy offers an objective eye, support, and strategies for working on the problems. If you seem to find yourself in the same kinds of difficult situations over and over, therapy can help to identify the origins of your behavioral and emotional patterns. A psychologist can listen to your situation and use all of the experience and research of the field to see what might help you to achieve your life goals and to feel a greater sense of freedom and ease.
Consider Therapy If...
You feel an overwhelming and prolonged sense of helplessness and sadness, and your problems do not seem to get better despite your efforts and help from family and friends.
You are finding it difficult to carry out everyday activities: for example, you are unable to concentrate on assignments at work and your job performance is suffering as a result, you are avoiding social situations, or you are finding excuses to stay home alone.
You worry excessively, expect the worst, or are constantly on edge.
Your actions are harmful to yourself or to others: for instance, you are drinking too much alcohol, abusing drugs, under or overeating, or becoming overly argumentative and aggressive.
Will Psychotherapy Help Me?
According to a research summary from the Stanford University School of Medicine, some forms of psychotherapy can effectively decrease patients' depression, anxiety, and related symptoms such as pain, fatigue, and nausea. Research increasingly supports the idea that emotional and physical health are closely linked and that psychotherapy can improve a person's overall health. There is convincing evidence that most people who have at least several sessions of psychotherapy are far better off than individuals with emotional difficulties who are untreated. One major study showed that 50 percent of patients noticeably improved after eight sessions, while 75 percent of individuals in therapy improved by the end of six months.
How Will I Know If The Therapy Is Working?
As you begin therapy, you should establish clear goals with your therapist. You might be trying to overcome feelings of hopelessness associated with depression or control a fear that is disrupting your daily life. Remember, certain goals require more time to reach than others. You and your therapist should decide at what point you may expect to begin to see progress. It is a good sign if you begin to feel a sense of relief, and a sense of hope. People often feel a wide variety of emotions during psychotherapy. Some qualms about therapy that people may have result from their having difficulty discussing painful and troubling experiences. When you begin to feel relief or hope, it can be a positive sign indicating that you are starting to explore and to understand your thoughts and behavior.
How Long Will Therapy Take?
Therapy can be short-term or long-term, depending on the nature of the problem. You can choose to focus on one problem or goal, or multiple problems and goals. You can do a focused piece of work around one issue, leave therapy, and then return to work on another problem later.
“But Therapy Is Expensive!”
Oftentimes, people look at therapy as a long-term investment in their overall well-being and quality of life, an investment that can continue to pay dividends years after the therapy is over. (The dividends could be literal, if, for instance, increased confidence or clarity of goals gained in therapy helped you to ask for a raise, find a higher paying job, or change careers.)