This article is for the people have landed on this site looking for psychotherapy, and are wondering if psychotherapy is what they need right now.
Here are some questions (in no particular order) to ask yourselves. If one or more of your answers is a “yes”, it is probably a good idea for you to speak to a psychotherapist.
- Your doctor / psychiatrist / teacher or other professional advises you to get therapy.
- Your loved ones encourage you to seek therapy.
- You are looking for answers about your inner experience.
- You are experiencing a difficult milestone in your life: leaving home, getting married or divorced, having a child, being diagnosed with illness, migration, etc.
- You find yourself in a difficult or abusive relationship at home or at work.
- You experience physical reactions that you cannot understand: like panic attacks, crying attacks, rage.
- You are having thoughts that are churning in your mind.
- You suffer anxiety: social anxiety, phobias, paranoias.
- You’re not sleeping well: not able to get to sleep, waking up in the middle of the night and not getting back to sleep, not able to wake up, sleeping all day, having nightmares.
- You have an overwhelming feeling helplessness.
- You have an overwhelming feeling of guilt. You blame yourself for many things.
- You harm yourself physically.
- You have suicidal thoughts and/or plans.
- You are addicted to substance.
- You are addicted to a behavior: working, shopping, internet use, porn, sex.
- You are on antidepressants, anxiolytics or antipsychotic medication, and are thinking of reducing these.
- You obsess over certain activities. These activities preoccupy your life, affecting your work, and family life– like work, sports, collecting certain things, hoarding things.
- You have problems eating: obsessive thoughts about eating or not eating, bingeing, throwing up after eating, thoughts of starving yourself, feeling anxious around food, not able to enjoy food or the eating process.
- You have issues having sex.
- You suffer pain and aches that your doctors cannot find physical cause of.
- You are having problems working or studying, and feel like you’re about to burnout.
- You are socially isolated and / or feel very lonely.
- You have lost a parent / family member or two for over a year and have not got over the loss.
- You had had difficult childhood experience of abuse, neglect or abandonment.
- You have been sexually abused in your life, and have not worked through this experience with anyone.
- You have difficulty remembering parts of you childhood, and you suspect trauma.
- You’ve encountered a traumatic event that was threatening to your life or the life of someone else.
- You cannot feel or identify your emotions.
- You see, hear of feel things that are not there.
- You or a loved one suffer chronic physical ailments or disability.
- You or a loved one have been diagnosed with terminal ailment.
- Your children are suffering from poor grades, ADHD, stress or are suicidal.
This is not a comprehensive list, although it does cover issues that I deal with in the psychotherapy practice.