At some point in their life, most people ask themselves, if they need therapy. Therapy is not only for difficult cases, therapy can often be helpful! Thus, you do not need to worry, that your symptoms are „not bad enough“. If you are still insecure, if you need or want to do therapy, this article might help you!
Mental Illnesses
Daily life is full of mental ups and downs. Some people can live well with their problems by talking to friends or letting off stress through a hobby or pastime. Others find it hard to restore that state of inner balance. If, even after several weeks, you find that you are struggling to move past a down cycle, it might help to seek support from a professional psychologist. Arrange an initial appointment with a psychotherapist to discuss your symptoms and receive professional advice about whether more extensive therapy is necessary. Your general practitioner can also help you identify whether you need help from a specialist. Because many mental illnesses are associated with physical symptoms, including stomach pain and poor sleep, doctors are trained to check whether your physical symptoms might have a mental origin. Where necessary, he or she can refer you to a specialist.
Common signs that therapy might be helpful
- Emotional signs that therapy might help you: Often feeling sad, anxious, irritable
- Physical signs that that therapy might help you: feeling tired and exhausted a lot, issues with sleep schedule, physical problems like stomach ache without medical reasons
- Changes in behaviour: Staying a home a lot more than before, Problems with handling everyday life (like cleaning, studying, hygiene or social life)
- Recurring or distressing thoughts
How to Decide If Therapy Is Right for You – Initial quesitions to ask yourself
- Do my problems impact my everyday life?
- Does my problem impact my relationships or my work?
- Am I not myself? Do I feel different from how I usually feel?
- Does the way I’ve changed bother me?
- Is there an explanation for the change?
- Does the explanation insufficiently account for the duration and severity of the trouble I’m having?
- Has it become a struggle to perform my day-to-day work?
- Am I constantly worried and anxious?
- Do I suffer from any physical ailments?
- Do I have a sleeping disorder? Do I sleep too little or too much?
- Do I often feel aggressive, hateful or irritable, or am I very intolerant?
- Am I often on sick leave?
- Do I have suicidal thoughts?
- Do I hardly have anyone left to talk to about my problems?
- Does speaking to friends about how I’m feeling no longer help?
- Is the change in me clearly noticeable to others, as well?
- Have I been feeling like this for more than three months?
- Am I ambivalent about everything?
(Source: Rosemarie Piontek: Mut zur Veränderung Methoden und Möglichkeiten der Psychotherapie. Bonn, 2009)
How to Find a Therapist
- You can call any of the therapists listed on our website ( List of Psychotherapists around Siegen ).Most probably there will be certain telephone hours which an automized announcement will tell you. Then you can call again during these telephone hours and make an appointment for a consultation.
- If the therapist has availability, you can attend a few initial sessions—often called “probationary sessions”—to go through diagnostics and see whether you feel comfortable working with them. After that, regular therapy can begin.
Be ready to call more than one psychotherapist, as demand is high for these services and many practices have long waiting times for appointments. If you still have questions about the process of finding a therapist, feel free to drop by the Student Living Room — we’ll do our best to support you.
Your SLR host Alessa 🙂
