Do I need therapy?

If you have found yourself asking the question “Do I need therapy?” this article will guide you through how to answer that question.

It might be that you have been considering therapy for a while, or perhaps a friend or family member has suggested therapy and you are unsure if it is for you. Maybe you have thought about starting therapy many times before, but never taken the plunge.

Many people hesitate over this question for months or even years before they book their first session. In the meantime, they may suffer unnecessarily and feel increasingly alone with their problems. Although the stigma around seeking mental health support is lifting, some common misconceptions still remain, which can act as a barrier to people asking for help.

Three common misconceptions

I need to be in crisis to access therapy

Many people believe that therapy is only for people who are experiencing an acute mental health crisis. This is simply not true. In fact, if more people felt able to ask for help sooner, it may prevent a worsening of symptoms and potential mental health crises in the future.

Even if you think what’s bothering you is 'not that bad’, if it is causing you unhappiness or difficulty in your life, it is worth exploring. A professional therapist is trained to work with people experiencing a wide range of issues, and you can look at a therapist’s profile to check that their expertise is relevant to you and the particular issues you would like to address.

Other people’s situations are worse than mine

Although it is natural to compare ourselves to others, this is often an unhelpful strategy when it comes to assessing whether therapy would be useful for us or not. If something is causing you distress or difficulty, then seeking therapy makes sense. In the same way that we would still seek medical help for a physical pain, even if we understand that others may have more severe medical issues.

It doesn’t make sense that we should suffer in silence with our mental health, just because other people may have more complex issues. A skilled therapist will treat you as an individual and get to know your personal needs, allowing them to work with you in a bespoke way that is right for you.

I don't know what I need from therapy, so I don’t want to waste someone’s time

A qualified therapist is never going to think you are wasting their time. They are there to listen to you, understand you and help you gain a clearer understanding of how therapy might help you.

Sometimes sessions might start with a lot of uncertainty, but a therapist is there to gently guide you to explore what has brought you into therapy and what the path forward looks like. This process can take time, and it is OK if it takes a while to figure out what you need from therapy. Together, with your therapist, you can often find the clarity you were looking for.

Misconceptions such as these can prevent people who would benefit from therapy from reaching out, leaving them missing out on an experience that could help them move forward in their lives. 

Three signs therapy might benefit you

You feel stuck

Perhaps you feel that your life has become stagnant, either in your career or your personal life. You might have ideas about what you would like to achieve, but be unsure how to get there. Maybe you feel stuck in patterns or habits that seem impossible to break, but you long to be free of them.

Feeling stuck can be frustrating, especially when you can’t see how things could ever change. Therapy can help you to understand your current position better, what led you there, and how you can work towards where you’d like to be.

Relationships feel difficult

Maybe you have noticed that you are clashing with your partner more these days or arguing over small things. It might be that day-to-day stress is getting you down and having a knock-on negative impact on your relationship. How we relate to others can give us an insight into our state of mind and is sometimes the first clue that something is wrong.

If this sounds familiar, it may be worth exploring what is behind this change. Some therapy sessions could benefit not only your personal well-being, but the well-being of your relationships, too. 

You don’t feel like yourself anymore

Sometimes you can’t quite put your finger on what is bothering you, or when things changed, but you just don’t feel like ‘you’ anymore. This could be apparent in different aspects of your life, for example, maybe you have started withdrawing from social events or activities you used to enjoy.

It could also be just a felt sense of your identity changing from how you used to see yourself. Using therapy sessions to explore these kinds of existential issues can be really helpful to uncover what is going on, and hopefully help you to feel more like yourself again. 

Finally, instead of trying to answer our starting question of “Do I need therapy?”, it may be more useful to reframe the question to “Would having a confidential space to talk and reflect feel helpful to me right now?” If the answer is yes, and you’d like to explore how therapy could help you, please reach out for support.