Over 78,694,000 people in the United States has taken at least one form of a psychotropic drug at one point in their life according to CCHR International. This drug is prescribed by a primary care physician who only typically sees a patient once a year, which is not sufficient. For all this physician knows, the patient could stop taking the drug, increase their dose of the drug or be unhappy with the amount that they were given. Personally, I went back to my primary care physician multiple times before the correct dose was prescribed and maintained. If the primary physician is not dedicated, as mine was, to make sure that everything was working with the drug, who would know? Who would the patient have to talk to about some of the effects it may be having? Therapy is such a taboo subject that many people fear going because of the thought that they may be judged.
I never wanted to admit to my friends that every Monday and Thursday I made the 20-minute journey to my therapy appointment. It was embarrassing. “Therapy is for people who can’t handle things by themselves,” my grandmother said as she found out that I would be attending both group and individual therapy sessions for anxiety and depression.
Feeling ashamed to tell people about therapy meant that I often missed many sessions, halting the progress that could have been made in that time, all because I was scared of what other people would think of me. The thought is that therapy is something that is typically reserved for people who have had a major event happen in their life that could affect the way that they function without being able to talk about it. But what caused this stigma to come about? And why should other people care if I am trying to take preventative measures before something bad does happen?
Having a support system for me to fall back on has made my treatment for mental illness so much easier because I know that there is always someone I can talk to who can give me a different opinion on the way that I am seeing my life.
Therapy though is something I think that everyone could benefit from.
When you come out of the womb, there should be a conversation along the lines of: “Welcome to the world, this is your therapist and you meet on Tuesdays at 4pm.”
It should be something that is a constant in life. Someone who is not a parent that can be talked to no matter what the situation while keeping a code of privacy. Think of a human journal that you can vent to for an hour every week.
Many of my new friends at college have admitted that they frequent the counseling center more in college than when at home. This could be because “in college it is less weird to go to the counseling center because everyone is stressed and a lot of people have recognized that therapy can help them,” says current Simmons freshman IS*.
This reflects in the number of appointments that the counseling center holds each day and the fact that there is still a wait list to schedule an intake appointment.
Looking back, I wish that I had never been afraid to admit that I went to therapy. The more that people hear the idea as a part of every day life, the less stigma there will be eventually around the idea as a whole.
*All references used have been referred to by initials for privacy of students.
