Therapy, for just about as long as it's been common practice, has been looked down upon by society as taboo — the Greeks used psychotherapy to treat the insane and Freud administered psychotherapy for those who were seriously mentally ill. It was only in the 1940s that psychotherapy became what we know it to be today. But why is there still such a stigma around it? Why does it seem like going to a therapist is something to be ashamed of and something to be hidden? Because people still judge psychotherapy. To this day it's still viewed as something that only people who are seriously messed up have to endure and that it's an hour of torturous silence and talking about your feelings.
I went to therapy as a kid for an extreme fear of water and don't remember much of that. I never talked to anyone about it because, well, fourth graders don't usually ask about it.
But now, as an 18-year-old, I recently started going back. The combination of losing a family member and the stress of my first year of college led my mother to make me an appointment which I, like most others would, was dreading. My heart pounded as I sat on the couch thinking about the feelings that would be dragged out of me. I walked out with a completely different outlook- while the appointment did require some talk about how I was feeling, it also included questions like what my favorite movie was, what I liked to do, and what I've done with my summer.
A natural born rambler, I spent more time talking about how much I loved Disney and how much I wanted to learn how to play guitar. Not once during the hour did I feel pressured, stressed, or anything like what movies make it out to be. Most importantly, I didn't feel like I should be embarrassed for talking to someone. People know that there's a lot going on in my life, and I never felt the need to pretend that I was dealing with it perfectly fine.
Therapy is not torturous nor is it something to be embarrassed about.
We're all human, and getting stressed out about work, school, and life is common, but not all of us have someone to talk to about it. It's harmful to keep all your emotions and stress bottled up, but those who don't have anyone to talk to may not feel like psychotherapy is a viable option because we all subconsciously think that therapy is only for crazy people. Having this opinion that going to a "shrink" is a bad thing is just old-world thinking.
Thinking that you can't go a therapist because there's nothing seriously wrong is justifying your problems and thinking that they may not be that big a deal when in reality, they are. Everyone has problems and everyone deals with them differently. Therapy is for anybody and everybody. It's someone to talk to who can help manage stress and make dealing with life a little easier, and no one should be embarrassed about seeking help when they feel they need it.
