10 reasons to go to psychotherapy

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

But although it is recommended to go to the psychologist in case of suffering any emotional problem, this does not want say that we should wait for some stressful event or major life change to happen to go to the psychologist. It is better to prevent than to cure and, therefore, we must go to the psychologist even if we do not believe that there is anything bad that is happening to us.

There are many things in our daily lives that are minor today, but could be serious tomorrow. Next we will discover the main reasons for going to psychotherapy, of different severity and emergencies.

• Related article: "The 8 benefits of going to psychological therapy"

Reasons to go to psychotherapy

Going to the psychologist is not at all shameful or synonymous with having a serious psychopathology. Many people turn to mental health professionals to help them regain control of their lives, progress in them, and get to know themselves.

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

Other people seem to be aware of what a psychologist does, and respect him as professional that he is, but they consider that going to one being perfectly "right in the head" is unnecessary. Having the belief that many of the problems of daily life are solved by themselves or with little effort, many people see going to a psychologist as an unnecessary expense to be told what to do make. Because they think they have an idea of ​​what the solution is, most people see this excessive step.

However, Investing in our mental health is not an unnecessary expense, but a preventive measure. On many occasions an emotional problem that was originally perfectly controllable evolves, crystallizes and becomes chronic, becoming a true mental disorder, a disorder that could have been avoided if the affected person had gone to psychotherapy in a beginning. It may also happen that it is not a mental disorder that arises, but a problem with a relationship, a family, work or studies that, having not known how to handle it, now explodes the affected person in all his expensive.

Seen all this and with the intention of motivating the reader to go to a psychologist and, thus, improve his life or, at least, prevent it from getting worse, Next we are going to see several reasons to go to psychotherapy, whether or not there is a clear and serious problem that limits our lives.

1. Overcoming a duel in a healthy way

Death is an unavoidable part of life and we have all suffered the passing of a loved one, or will experience it in the future. Although it is something normal and 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 his death has been very sudden.

Grief is a normal part of life, pathological grief is not. 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 over the departure of our loved one. It is as if we had died while alive.

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

2. Manage major life changes

Life is up and down, and even on the peaks, it can be lived quite stressful. For example, motherhood, moving to a new city, starting a college degree, or starting a new and good job are happy events, but they also arouse uncertainty and fears.

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

3. Manage disruptive emotions

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

It is not necessary that they be great negative emotions, such as a momentary misfortune or a serious displeasure. Daily pressures such as those from work, family or the world political and economic situation are small annoyances that, accumulated, end up taking their toll.

Do not let this happen! Going to the psychologist will serve to identify these pressures and learn how to channel the tension that it produces in order to release it into productive and satisfying activities.

• You may be interested in: "Major Depression: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment"

4. Overcome limiting fears and fears

Many people may not even realize it, but they really have phobias, fears, and fears of all kinds. They may not be clinically as serious phobias as those normally diagnosed, since it allows them to lead a relatively normal daily life, but after all These are problems that, if they get worse, will limit the affected person.

These phobias can be towards an object or animal, and they can also be towards catastrophic situations implausible that, even though there is little chance of their happening, they do not go out of our minds.

Be it towards something or towards a situation, psychotherapy can help us overcome a fear and dare to try new things or carry out activities in which the phobic object was.

• You may be interested in: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

5. Regain 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 before they filled them and, if they are not careful, they are walking step by step towards a disorder of the state psychic. This can happen to all of us and, fortunately, it has a solution.

The psychologist can help us regain motivation, detecting what is the underlying problem that makes us feel this way and looking for strategies to deal with it. 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's going to be very harmful.

6. Avoid and overcome addictions

No 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 they do not stop taking them or are totally protected from their consumption.

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 to deal with the discomfort that the situation produces in us. question. But what happens here is not that we eliminate the problem that causes us discomfort, but that we camouflage it with an insane habit.

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

• You may be interested in: "The 14 most important types of addictions"

7. Improve our romantic relationship

Many couples say they are happy, but when push comes to shove there are many problems of coexistence that make both lovers feel dissatisfied with the direction the relationship is taking.

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

8. Want to sleep better

Many people suffer from sleeping problems and don't really know why it is. They have tried sleeping pills, reducing the amount of caffeine, going to bed earlier each day... and nothing, absolutely nothing they have achieved.

Sometimes our mind is very bloody. While lying down, he begins to wake up and remember things that prevent us from sleeping. This "runrún" keeps us awake and, although we have tried all of the above, we cannot sleep. It can also happen that we are so stressed that we do not even realize how tense we are in bed.

Although there are few cases in which trying these strategies does not work at all, it must be said that one of the ways to find out what is really happening 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

Emotional problems often manifest as pain throughout the body. Our head hurts, our stomach hurts, we feel cramps, we get dizzy... uncomfortable sensations that apparently have no medical explanation.

They may really be manifestations of a high level of stress that, even if we minimize it, is still somewhat problematic. If we don't do something, these psychosomatic discomforts will get worse, and can lead to problems such as gastrointestinal diseases or constant headaches.

10. Nothing we've tried has worked

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

We may be trying to pass our studies and we are not succeeding in any way, or that in the work goes fatal despite the fact that we do everything possible to be punctual in the delivery of the reports. Maybe even though we try to be in a good mood, sooner or later we will argue with our family.

Whatever it is, all these situations are examples of red flags to call a psychologist, since there may really be a control problem anger, general demotivation, symptoms of silent depression and other psychological conditions that, if not controlled, can destroy our lives. lifetime.

Bibliographic 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. Psychological therapy, 30 (1).