Hello all! Welcome back to the blog~
Today’s post is partially to tackle a major social stigma and the other half would be to just explain how therapy can be helpful even when you may not believe it can help.
Society has never been that open to mental illness. In conversations with others, it is instinctual to say one of two things when someone says “how are you?” Those two things are “I’m fine” or “I’m good.” There is nothing in-between. We are definitely taught from a young age that it is only socially acceptable to say something good. If you say that you are not okay, you are labeled and stigmatized. This does not make much sense though because we always will have a day when we don’t feel okay. We all have days when we just stare at a wall and think. But this is stigmatized and something must be wrong with you if you are not great even for a moment.
That is our society and while we have made advances as a society in accepting mental illness, we still have a long way to go to overcome such a long stigma.
You may be wondering at this point if I am ever going to get to the topic in the headline. Well I am now!
Wanting therapy is not a bad thing. For the longest time I thought that you had to be crazy to be in therapy. I truly thought that therapy was only for those who were really crazy. Again, social stigmatization taking over. But when I was 16, I was very depressed and had to go to a psych ward for a week. At the time, I thought I was crazy and thought everyone was crazy for thinking I needed help. I thought I was the only one that felt alone, I soon learned I wasn’t. This psych ward changed my life for the better. And yet, when you think of a psych ward, you probably think that I’m crazy. I wasn’t and still am not. I ended up going to therapy shortly after being released. It was life changing. I have fond memories of that therapist because she taught be something very valuable. She taught me that it was okay not to be okay. She taught me that being depressed could happen to anyone but anyone could also survive and overcome it.
Going to therapy is not a bad thing. It could save your life. The best thing about therapy would be that it teaches you that you are not alone. You could go to therapy simply to talk. Therapy is not always what they show in TV shows and movies, it is not always you laying on a couch reevaluating your life. Therapy is a lot of things and is worth it. Even going to one session allows you to get stuff off your chest.
I suppose my point to this post would be that you should ignore the stigma attached to therapy. You should ignore the stigma that there is something wrong with you if you want therapy or if you think you need help. It is okay to not feel okay.
I hope that this post finds you well. If you ever need someone to talk to in an emergency, please call the suicide hotline. Their number is 800-273-8255. Therapy does not have to be constant and even one conversation could make your day ten times better.
Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful day!
That Savannah Life 