How do I know if I need to see a psychologist? 6 tips

Knowing when the time has come to go to the psychologist is not always easy. After all, psychological problems can take a wide variety of forms, and it is difficult to speak of a specific profile of the person who attends psychotherapy consultations.

Depending on the social context in which we live, our needs and preferences, and even our personality, the reasons why we may need professional help vary greatly.

Thus, it is relatively normal that between the time a discomfort is detected and going to a psychology center for the first time, a time passes in which the patient wonders... How do i know if i need a psychologist? Let's look at several tips and key ideas to help you make the best decision.

• Related article: "Types of psychological therapies"

How to know if you need a psychologist

Mental health has gone from being an area in which "crazy people" were stigmatized to one in which understands that the mind is too complicated to be classified in the categories "healthy" and "sick". Now we understand that psychological problems, regardless of their severity, fall within normality:

the weird thing would be not to have gone through any of them at some point in our lives.

Therefore, many people are not clear about how to decide what that line is that they are supposed to cross in order to have a good reason to go to therapy. In the following lines we will see several guidelines to know when a psychologist is needed.

1. Focus on suffering

There are people who wonder whether or not to go to the psychologist simply because they are doing or have done something that someone has told them is wrong.

However, this is not a good criterion to consider whether to go to a psychotherapy consultation, because the focus of therapy is not exactly on the ethical scales that each person follows, but on the idea of ​​whether or not there is suffering associated with a behavior. Suffering in the person who does it or in the people around the person who does it.

On the other hand, the same behavior can be branded immoral by one person, and totally normal by another. Moral dilemmas, although relevant, are not the priority of psychotherapy.

2. Make sure it's psychological

Psychologists treat cognitive and emotional problems, but not those that have to do with physical pain. No, headaches don't count, either.

Yes indeed, in the event that there is a physical condition that generates psychological sequelae, such as stress or obsessive ideas, then it is appropriate to consider whether to go to psychotherapy or not.

• You may be interested: "10 tips for choosing a good psychologist"

3. Does discomfort keep you from a normal life?

When deciding when to go to the psychologist, this question is key, since helps to understand the severity of the discomfort experienced.

4. Define the type of problem that exists

First of all, we must try to understand where the problem that makes us suffer or makes us feel bad begins and ends.

The first thing to ask yourself is whether the problem is mainly oneself or not; if the problem clearly has to do with the context, and not with yourself, it is not worth going to therapy. For example, if a person is homosexual and at the same time feels very good about her life, he should not go to therapy although certain people do. Treat like someone sick, since in this case the problem is only homophobia and this does not cause psychological wear important.

Now, the answer to the question of whether the problem lies with oneself or with others will usually not be very clear, that psychology also has to do with the way in which people relate to the environment and this affects them they.

In any case, keep in mind that you may have a problem yourself by experiencing a lot of suffering and that the responsibility for the problem lies with others. An example of this would be the discomfort experienced when being bullied.

5. Ask for advice

This is an important resource that is often little used. Asking for the opinion of friends and family helps to have an interesting perspective, since although it is paradoxical, others are able to give us more information about what happens to us than we have ourselves simply by living those experiences. The emotional involvement it can distort our knowledge of our lives.

6. Ask yourself if the problem is recurring

If the discomfort is a matter of a few hours or a very few days and you think it will go away shortly, in most cases you will not need the help of a psychotherapist. The exception to this has to do with traumatic events such as the loss of a loved one or being in an accident. In these cases, you are more likely to require help due to the possibility of developing sequelae, although not always.