When we think about therapy most of the time we view it as a treatment for people who are in a psychiatric unit or who may be born with mental disabilities. Media has even made the concept of therapy stigmatizing and daunting. In reality, therapy is not what the media portrays it as.
My first time going to therapy was when I was 16. I remember first going with my mom to try to work on our disputes despite the fact that we only went to two sessions. It wasn't until I was placed into foster care when I started having individualized therapy.
Through all of my experiences with going to therapy, I was a hard-working student, a cashier at a local grocery store, and played a lot of roles within the university I had attended. I had even made a lot of friends although only a few turned out to be closer to me. Although I was functional there were some unresolved conflicts that not a lot of people knew about.
Since early childhood, I had witnessed a lot of things that were traumatic. Up until when I was 16, I had bottled up a lot of emotions from my childhood and tried to forget about what had happened to me. Once I started individualized therapy I gradually realized that most of the conflicts and struggles I had dealt with were because of my unresolved issues from my past. Therapy helped me get closure on things such as finding out that the reason I bottle up my emotions is that I was never given the chance to express how I feel. I also realized that being the black sheep of the family had caused me to believe that I was never wanted.
Yes, I went to therapy and I take medication for my depression but at the same time, I am not one of those people who is mentally challenged and needed to be hospitalized long-term. I just needed someone to help me learn how to cope with dealing with my past but most of all I needed someone who I can turn to in times of need and extra support.
It is okay to go to therapy even if it was once a month. Life will always be full of struggles and therapists are there to help us cope with those struggles. Yes, most therapists you meet will constantly write notes on their writing pads but it is only because those notes help them determine how to help guide you in the right direction. Therapists are people as well and they also go through most things that we ourselves go through. A fun fact I like to share with people is that therapists are required to go to therapy as well. This is to help them cope with the stress their job may bring them.
Therapy is not as bad as the media portrays it to be. One of the worst things we can do as a society is to convince ourselves and others that therapy is only for the mentally challenged and that the problems we face in life are problems we have to go through alone.
