Written by Jill Earp, LMHC
- You feel like you cannot be honest about how you’re feeling with those around you.
This is a common line that I hear from clients. There could be a variety of reasons why someone would feel this way, such as not knowing how to communicate their needs, difficult relationships, or social anxiety. Whatever the circumstances are, mental health counseling can definitely be a helpful resource in learning how to communicate effectively and navigate whatever factors are making you feel like you have something to hide. Practicing these skills in a nonjudgmental environment can significantly reduce your mental burden.
- You don’t know why you are feeling bad: angry, worried, overwhelmed, and you don’t want to feel that way anymore.
Sometimes the hardest part of being human is figuring out what we are feeling and what we can do if we need to change it. These are two different factors that are central to the mental health counseling process: identifying emotions and their sources and learning how to cope with feelings in healthy ways.
- Your thoughts or behaviors are scaring you.
Examples of this could be: hallucinations, intrusive thoughts, thoughts of hurting yourself, flashbacks, and fears as well as addictive or out of control behaviors. Our brains are not always reliable and that can look like psychosis, OCD, and suicidal or anxious thoughts. You could also be responding to these thoughts in self-destructive ways such as drug or alcohol use, disordered eating, gambling or shopping excessively. These are very common ways that people use to escape uncomfortable feelings and it can be hard to break those habits. A therapist can help guide you through that process to learn new ways to cope.
- You have difficulty maintaining daily living tasks such as eating regularly, basic hygiene routines, and hobbies or social activities do not interest you as much as they usually do.
If you’re not feeling like you’re at your best and these daily living tasks have become a chore, it could be a sign that you’re overwhelmed and unable to keep up with these daily tasks along with whatever internal turmoil you’re experiencing. These are the classic red flags to look out for when you might be in a funk or needing to make a change. It is nothing to be ashamed of and can be a great sign to check in with yourself when you notice changes in these routines.
- You’ve experienced a loss such as the death of a loved one, a break up, or unexpected change in your life that you’re having a hard time dealing with on your own.
Grief can show in many different forms in response to many different experiences. It can feel so lonely to deal with something that others struggle to know how to talk about in a truly supportive way, even if they are well-intentioned. Mental health counseling can help normalize and guide you through the uncomfortable process of life after loss.
- You are in a time of transition: graduating from high school or college, starting a family, changing careers or retiring and you need help with figuring out how to get the most out of these experiences.
Heraclitus was right when they said, “The only constant in life is change.” Mental health counseling can be a great opportunity to explore your goals and identify any obstacles that could keep you from achieving them. You may not realize that you are holding yourself back from your full potential until you take the time to discuss your innermost hopes and dreams in a nonjudgmental environment of a therapy session. You are the expert on you and a therapist can help you discover even more about yourself in order to support your dreams.
- Your friendships or relationships feel difficult to manage.
Friendships, family relationships, and intimate relationships can bring a lot of joy when they are going well, but they can also bring out a lot of stress and turmoil when they are not going well. Communication issues, improper boundary setting, fear of abandonment, difficulty managing emotions, and social anxiety can easily impact relationships and make it feel like everything is falling apart. Mental health counseling can help address these relationships through family or couples therapy as well as in individual therapy sessions to address personal experiences that are impacting your relationships.
- You recently received a mental health diagnosis from your primary care provider and you need more than just medication to manage your symptoms.
Anxiety, Depression, and ADHD are often diagnosed and managed by primary care physicians. This can be a great way to acknowledge that you are not alone in your experiences with getting a formal diagnosis, but it can also be lacking in tangible ways to manage your symptoms beyond just medications. Following up with a therapist can help you explore your experiences with these diagnoses and learn how to address them through cognitive and behavioral techniques.
If any of these experiences sound familiar to you, and you are residing in Florida or North Carolina, I would be happy to help you on your mental health counseling journey. Please click below to book a phone consultation with me for a virtual counseling session.
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