Have you been struggling with your mental health? Has an issue been affecting you for a long time, and it’s becoming hard to manage? Or perhaps a recent life change has been affecting your well-being more recently?
Whatever the case, life is full of its highs and lows. When things become more difficult, having someone in your corner is invaluable. And one of the best ways that you can set yourself up for mental well-being and build a foundation for your recovery is with therapy.
How exactly can therapy help?
If you’re dealing with an ongoing mental illness, a therapist can help you on both your good days and your tough days, as well as provide support and strategies to manage symptoms. And if you’re feeling stuck in life or feel like you aren’t able to live to your fullest potential, a therapist can help you work through those issues as well.
A therapist is, in essence, a trained, skilled individual who is there to listen, ask questions, provide guidance, and otherwise help you through the often complex and difficult challenges of day-to-day mental health. They have been specially trained to provide you with the tools you need for your recovery journey.
There are a number of invaluable benefits to therapy, including:
- Self-discovery and improved self-awareness
- The creation and adoption of healthy coping strategies
- Support as you work towards your goals
- Helping to manage and treat mental illness
- Supporting your relationships
- Good physical health as a result of good mental health
Knowing when to get therapy
Honestly, there’s never a bad time to go to therapy. There’s always an opportunity to learn about yourself and grow, even when things are going well. However, if you’re struggling with certain challenges, it might be time to book a first consultation. Here are five signs that you should seek therapy:
1. You constantly feel like you’ve lost your energy
If you feel like your energy is always low regardless of how much sleep, exercise, or food you have, we call it fatigue. This isn’t a mental health issue in itself, but it is often a symptom of one. Most often, fatigued people have a difficult time waking up and getting out of bed on time. Fatigue also tends to accompany depression, although it can indicate other challenges as well. In the case of depression, therapy can be a huge help, and can restore energy over time.
2. You feel hopeless and apathetic
Apathy and hopelessness are two other common signs of depression. Hopelessness and the feeling of not having a future often suggests depression, which can sometimes escalate to suicidal ideation. Apathy on the other hand is a feeling of disinterest in life and all it has to offer. If you’re feeling apathetic towards your friends, loved ones, or things you normally like to do, it could indicate a mental illness that could be helped with therapy.
3. You constantly feel anxious
We all worry from time to time. But when simple worries turn into chronic anxieties, and it feels like you can’t stop worrying no matter what you do, it might be time to seek help from a therapist. Anxiety can take up huge parts of a person’s life, and often goes hand-in-hand with intrusive thoughts. When left untreated, anxiety can even develop physical symptoms as time goes on.
4. You feel excessively angry
It’s completely normal to get angry from time to time, but if that anger doesn’t pass, and instead turns into a constant rage, it may be time to seek support. We also recommend working with a therapist if you find your anger is usually extreme and disproportionate to the situation, or if it leads you to violence or other antisocial behaviour.
5. You feel overwhelmed or burnt out
This is a common reason that people seek out therapy—and in many cases, it isn’t indicative of any particular mental illness. Life has a way of piling up sometimes, especially when you consider the sometimes overwhelming state of the world. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, whether on a personal level or on a larger scale, if you feel burnt out and like you can’t keep up with your daily routine, therapy can help.
Where to seek therapy
If you’ve read this and realized that you’re dealing with something that could be helped by expert therapy, Hopewoods is here to help in our Toronto ON community. Our psychotherapists are highly trained and experienced and can help you identify the source of your challenges and support you as you overcome those obstacles.
Do you have more questions about therapy, its benefits, or when to start? Learn more and get started today by contacting us.
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