Therapy – It’s Not as Scary as You Think

Therapy. Counseling. Physiologist. Yikes, those words can strike fear in to so many. I can totally relate, since I used to feel that way too.

I had initially gone to see a therapist for counseling. That was a short lived experience and didn’t go exactly the way I thought it would. But that didn’t make me give up on getting mental health support, I knew I just needed to try again.

After a period of time, and while working with my very concerned family doctor, I realized I needed A LOT more help. So I swallowed my pride and fear, at least a bit, and sought out a psychologist. I’ve done some difficult things in my life, but this was one of the hardest. It was one of the hardest because it was something that I had to choose to do solely on my own. Mental health issues can seem much less tangible than physical health issues. So the urgency of needing professional care may not be viewed as equal.

For me, it was different than going through cancer. Cancer was definitely a much more immediate and urgent need, but in a different way. Since there were medical appointments, medical tests and a diagnosis. I had someone external to me, well many people actually, tell me the action steps I needed to take. Help me work out a plan I felt comfortable with. I could see on an x-ray the tumour I had. No x-ray could show me that my mental health wasn’t ok.

Realizing I needed to see a mental health professional, deciding to see a mental health professional and actually going to see a professional, were things I needed to do on my own in this situation. Maybe the two situations really aren’t that far apart in that way, but it really felt like I needed to be more self-propelled to seek out mental health help.

I have ended up seeing my psychologist regularly for 3 years. There have been moments when I thought I could stop seeing her and thought I’m doing alright, I don’t need help anymore. While I definitely was doing better, I began to see it like the rest of my health journey. I have greatly valued meeting with her.

I have been through very rough roads getting through cancer and depression. But all of the good coping skills and mechanisms I have set in place to head off these physical and mental health problems from returning, meant that I needed to keep putting the resources, effort and time in to taking care of this part of my life and health.

While I may reduce the frequency of when I go see my psychologist, she is still a tool in my tool box to maintain my health ongoing. If I continue to keep this resource in my tool kit, when I need to use this tool more often, or need it to work through a more urgent concern, it will take less effort and output (and stress) from me to use this resource.

If I had to go out and find a new therapist or counselor every time I go through difficulty in my mental health, it would take so much more effort and add stress to even take that action. Plus the stress of having to start a new relationship with a new counselor. Since I am very aware that building new relationships and interacting with people who are either complete strangers to me, or mostly strangers, is very stressful for me.

Over time I have really worked hard on this skill. I have tried to figure out how to be more comfortable with talking to people I don’t know. Even chatting with a stranger in a store was something I needed to work on. With all of the work I have put in to that, it has gotten better for sure. But if I needed to do that multiple times with a new therapist, that would be extra stress on top of the stress I would be trying to work through by going to counseling. Yikes, who needs that?

I am like millions of other people, I stress about the unknown. If I am familiar with something and have gone through it before, I generally have less stress. NEW things scare me. So I was pretty anxious about meeting with my psychologist to help me work through my stress and anxiety, so it feels a bit counter intuitive to add that kind of stress on top of more stress.

BUT once I got past all the stress and anxiety of finding someone to see, and actually going to see her, it was such a good experience. It took a bit of time for me to get comfortable with being in an environment where I needed to really talk through things. Relationaly, one-on-one with people in my personal life, I really try to keep conversations on a more equal level. I really try not to talk about myself all the time in conversations. Being in an environment where I really needed to talk about myself for the whole appointment took some getting used to for sure.

So after a couple rough starts through the years, and a lot of prayer, I pushed forward and got the help I greatly needed. What about you friend? Have you had difficulty finding the professional help you need? Are you stressed or anxious about needing some counseling? Do you know someone who is struggling with getting the help they need? If I can help in any way, even if you just want to shoot me a message, just let me know.

We all have different experiences, so yours will probably not look like mine, but I wanted to share what I have been through with you, if it could encourage you in any way. Seeking the professional mental help you need, may be one of the greatest tools you have in your physical and mental health tool kit.

Friend, no matter where you are at in your mental health journey, let me encourage you to find the professional help you need to get you through your journey. If I can get over my stress and anxiety, I know you can too. Don’t forget, I’m praying for you!

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