10 reasons why to go to psychotherapy

Some of the most important reasons to seek help and start a psychotherapy process.

Life has ups and downs and, although in many occasions we are able to solve the problems on our own, in others we need a little help to move forward because, otherwise, we will suffer and suffer until the problem that hurts us goes away, if it ever does. In these cases going to a psychologist is the most appropriate thing to do.

But although it is recommended to go to the psychologist in case of suffering some emotional problem, this does not mean that we should wait until some stressful event or great vital change happens to us to go to the psychologist. Prevention is better than cure and, therefore, we should go to the psychologist even if we do not believe that there is anything wrong with us.

There are many things in our daily lives that today are minor, but tomorrow could be serious. We will now discover the main reasons for which to go to psychotherapy, of gravity and different urgencies..

• Article related: "The 8 benefits of going to psychological therapy".

Reasons for which to go to psychotherapy.

To go to the psychologist is not at all shameful nor synonymous of which one has a serious psychopathology. Many people go to mental health professionals in order to regain control of their lives, to make progress in their lives and to get to know themselves.

Psychotherapy does not consist of sitting in an armchair (or on a couch) talking to the psychologist at length so that he or she can give us "advice". No, what the psychologist does is not that, it is applying scientifically proven techniques and teaching us strategies to improve our lives.

Other people seem to be aware of what a psychologist does, and respect him or her as a professional, but consider it unnecessary to go to one when they are perfectly "right in the head". Believing that many of the problems of daily life can be solved on their own or with little effort, many people see it as an unnecessary expense to go to a psychologist to be told what to do. Because they think they have an idea of what the solution is, most people see this as an excessive step.

However, investing in our mental investing in our mental health is not an unnecessary expense, but a preventative measure.. In many occasions an emotional problem that in origin was perfectly controllable evolves, crystallizes and becomes chronic, turning into a real mental disorder, a disorder that could have been avoided if the affected person had gone to psychotherapy in the beginning. It can also happen that it is not a mental disorder that arises, but a problem of couple, family, work or studies that, not having known how to handle it, now explodes in the face of the affected person.

In view of all this and with the intention of motivating the reader to go to a psychologist and, thus, improve his or her life or, at least, prevent it from getting worse, we will now look at several reasons for going to psychotherapy, whether or not there is a clear and serious problem that limits our lives.

1. Overcoming grief in a healthy way

Death is an inevitable part of life and we have all suffered the death of a loved one, or we will experience it in the future. Although it is something normal and something that we must accept, it is also an event that is not easy to face, especially if the grief is due to the loss of a loved one and the death has been very sudden.

Grief is a normal part of life, pathological grief is not a normal part of life.. It may happen that we do not know how to manage it, that we get stuck in it and spend months and months feeling a deep discomfort for the departure of our loved one. It is as if we had died in life.

For this reason, in order to avoid it, it is a very good idea to resort to psychotherapy. We may end up overcoming the grief on our own, but it never hurts to make sure that we do indeed overcome it with the best possible psychological strategies.

2. Handling major life changes

Life is all ups and downs, and even in the peaks, they can be quite stressful. For example, motherhood, moving to a new city, starting a university degree or starting a new and good job are happy events, but also arouse uncertainty and fears.

To make sure that everything goes smoothly, one of the best options is to turn to a psychologist during these major life changes. It will help us to manage stress, fears and discomfort that may appear in the way of achieving our success, making us face our life challenges in the most efficient way possible.It will help us to face our life challenges in the most efficient way possible.

3. Handling disruptive emotions

People feel positive emotions and negative emotions, all of them with adaptive functions if they are manifested at euthymic levels. However, even if they are perfectly normal and even if they are perfectly normal and far from psychopathology, there are negative emotions that can overwhelm us..

They need not be major negative emotions, such as a momentary misfortune or a serious upset. Daily pressures such as those of work, family or the world political and economic situation are small annoyances that, accumulated, end up taking their toll.

Let's not let this happen! Going to a psychologist will help us to identify these pressures and learn how to channel the tension they produce in order to release it in productive and satisfying activities.

4. Overcoming limiting fears and apprehensions

Many people may not even realize it, but they really do have phobias, fears and apprehensions of all kinds. They may not be phobias on a clinical level as serious as those that are normally diagnosed, since they allow them to lead a relatively normal daily life, but they are, after all, problems that, if they get worse, can be treated in the long run. they are problems that, if they get worse, will limit the person affected..

These phobias can be towards an object or animal, and they can also be towards implausible catastrophic situations that, although there is little chance of them happening, do not leave our mind.

Whether it is towards something or a situation, psychotherapy can help us overcome a fear and dare to try new things or perform activities where the phobic object was.

5. Regaining motivation

There are people who simply lose motivation. No, they are not depressed, but it is as if they have suddenly lost interest in hobbies that used to fill them and, if they are careless, they are walking step by step towards a mood disorder. This can happen to all of us and, fortunately, it has a solution.

The psychologist can help us to recover our motivation, detecting the underlying problem that makes us feel this way and looking for strategies to deal with it. It is true that it may not be something very serious, but there is no doubt that what worries us is interfering in our lives and, in the long run, it is going to interfere in our lives. and, in the long run, it is going to be very harmful.

6. Avoiding and overcoming addictions

Without euphemisms or half-measures: drug use is not justifiable. Neither alcohol, nor tobacco and much less cocaine or marijuana have a justified use. Many people are fully aware of this, but this does not mean that they stop taking them or are totally protected from their use.

Some life situations can be so extreme on an emotional level that, despite being perfectly aware of how bad they are, we end up taking drugs as a way of dealing with the discomfort produced by the situation in question. But what happens here is not that we eliminate the problem that causes us discomfort, but that we camouflage it with an unhealthy habit.

Psychotherapy helps us to avoid substance use and relapses since it provides us with effective strategies against the problems that may arise, whether they are serious or minor, but all of them manageable in one way or another.

7. Improving our relationship

Many couples say that they are happy, but when it comes to the truth there are many problems in living together that make both lovers feel dissatisfied with the way the relationship is going. with the direction the relationship is taking.

Relationships require a lot of care and hard work, which we do not always do. In this case psychotherapy can help both partners learn effective communication strategies, learn to be more assertive in the relationship or show more explicitly how much both lovers love each other. You can also acquire tools to resolve in a peaceful and functional way the small frictions of living together.

8. Wanting to sleep better

Many people suffer from sleeping problems and do not know very well why it is.. They have tried sleeping pills, reducing the amount of caffeine, going to bed earlier every day... and nothing, absolutely nothing has been achieved.

Sometimes our mind is very tricky. When we are lying down, it starts to wake up and remember things that prevent us from sleeping. This "runrun" keeps us awake and, even though we have tried all of the above, we still can't get to sleep. It can also happen that we are so stressed that we don't even realize how tense we are in bed.

Although there are few cases in which trying these strategies does not work at all, it is worth saying that one of the ways to find out what is really going on is to go to a psychologist. He or she will find out if the insomnia is really due to a psychological problem or is due to another cause.

9. Eliminate body aches and pains

Many times, emotional problems manifest themselves in the form of aches and pains throughout the body. We get headaches, stomach aches, cramps, dizziness... annoying sensations that apparently have no medical explanation..

They may actually be manifestations of a high level of stress which, although we play it down, is still something problematic. If we do not do something now, these psychosomatic discomforts will get worse and can lead to problems such as Gastrointestinal diseases or constant headaches.

10. Nothing we have tried has worked

Finally, one of the reasons for going to psychotherapy is that, although apparently controllable, problems have arisen that we have not been able to control. problems that we have not been able to control. Everything we have tried has failed. They are not problems that pose a risk to our lives or physical or mental integrity, but they are annoying and begin to lower our self-esteem and our desire.

It may be that we are trying to pass our studies and we are not succeeding in any way, or that at work we are going badly even though we do our best to be punctual in the delivery of the reports. Maybe, even though we try to be in a good mood, sooner or later we get into an argument with our family.

Whatever it is, all these situations are examples of warning signs to turn to a psychologist, since there may really be a problem of anger management, generalized demotivation, symptoms of silent depression and other psychological conditions that, if left unchecked, can destroy our lives.

Bibliographical references:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-V. Masson, Barcelona.
• Muñoz, A.M., and Novos, M.M.. (2012). Reasons for consultation and explanatory clinical hypotheses. Terapia psicológica, 30 (1).