Your world does not have to be falling apart and you do not have to be broken before you see a therapist. Anything that positively impacts your mental health, or makes you comfortable facing your own areas of discomfort, is therapeutic. However, it takes a whole amount of courage to decide to go to therapy. So if you’ve decided to start the journey, give yourself a pat on the back.
The journey won’t always offer a bed of roses and it won’t be easy doing it alone, that’s why you need a therapist. A trained and objective person can help you understand the beautiful sophistication of your mind. but it is always something you will thank yourself for.
Here are some things to keep in mind before you hop into therapy:
- The client and therapist must be a good fit-
The therapist and the client must be interpersonally well-matched because the likelihood of getting better therapy results largely depends on how solid the client-therapist relationship is. The client must genuinely trust the therapist to achieve a profound therapy impact. In addition, the scenario in a client-therapist relationship also serves as a microcosm of the client’s other relationships as it can be seen how problems are addressed while staying connected.
- Honesty during session maximizes therapy benefits.
There are various factors why a client refuses to be completely honest with his therapist, including the stigma around seeking therapy, fear of judgment, or shame. But honesty in therapy helps you be comfortable with your own truths- letting you experience the liberation that comes from being fully honest with oneself.
- Prepare for discomfort
Just like when first hit the gym or signed up for yoga, you get thrilled thinking about the ultimate results, but you might not exactly be excited about the difficult process. That’s okay, that’s normal. What’s important is you’ve expected that it can get a bit disconcerting once you and your therapist touch your vulnerabilities and uncomfortable issues.
- Trust the process
Forget the shortcuts and embrace the journey. There is truth in what they say, that we live in a fast-paced society obsessed with looking for quick-fix. But quick-fixes do not last and neither do they address the root cause. Similarly, there is also truth in the saying “good things take time.” Understandably, you might find it hard to trust the process, because not having complete control over something can expose our frailties and it can be very unnerving. Know that your therapist is on your side and there to help you.
Oftentimes, unprocessed emotional pain lasts longer than we think it will, and it will ripple down to many other aspects of our life. Deciding to go to therapy is to prevent the negative impacts from cascading any further. Therapy is not a magic tool that produces instant happiness. It is a whole process of acknowledging the vast range of our human emotions and being comfortable with them until you can say “Hey, I’ve discovered things I never thought I had in me and I’m comfortable with them. I’m not always happy and that’s okay.”