REVELATIONS FROM MY EXPERIENCE WITH PSYCHOTHERAPY.

Part 1 of blog series

There is a therapist in all of us. It can do the job, for sure. It knows our triggers, our thresholds and our traits better than any therapist can ever get to the bottom of.

Then, one may ask, why do I need a therapist?

It’s true you may not need a therapist when you are mentally healthy, but when you suffer from difficulties that can be categorised as mental illness, your personal therapist that resides within is also stressed. It runs into confusion, self doubt, emotional turmoil and more. After all, a therapist is human too. That is why mental health professionals cannot treat themselves when they face mental illness, or for that matter, a dentist cannot extract his own wisdom tooth gone awry, or why the world’s top doctors need docs to operate on them.

Being human means being susceptible to mental illness. If you have a human’s mind and a body, chances are that you may experience mental distress at least once in your life. Like physical illness. Even infants can suffer from mental illness, but that’s for another blogpost to dive into.

1. Have you ever had a bad bout of physical illness in any part of the body?

2. Have you had to see a health professional for it?

3. Have you followed a treatment regimen and care for nursing yourself back to health?

4. Were you ashamed of yourself needing such help and accepting it?

Did you answer the above in Yes, Yes, Yes and No?

Then can you relate with me when I say, “I seek therapy and medication when I am not physically healthy"

AND I seek therapy and medication when "I am mentally not healthy.”?

Puh-tay-toe .... Puh-taa-toe. Right? Really, there is no difference....hence, no shame.

Coming to specifics from my personal experience of therapy... How did it help?

1. Cultivating the discipline I always lacked

2. Rediscovering my family and friends as my support system

3. Identifying unhealthy thinking patterns

4. Dealing with setbacks in the healing journey

5. Recalibrating all my personal auditors

We have only just begun.

I will be back to elaborate on each point above and add others, as I continue to spill the beans on how I have been helped by therapy.

Disclaimer: Psychotherapy is extremely unique to every individual and CANNOT be generalised. This blogpost is merely intended to convey that if it helped me in some way, I recommend you consider it for yourself if you need to. Do not read into it with a personal checklist and think, oh this is exactly what I needed and this is how it will pan out for me as well. It doesn’t work that way. That is also why you should give it a shot. Discover your unique journey with it; your journey of healing will be so much richer with therapy.

If you or you know someone who might benefit from any professional assistance, please do reach to Manoshala

By

Nishtha Singhal.

Writer, Manoshala

Reviewed by

Bhavya P, Counselling Psychologist Manoshala