What Does a Therapist Do?
A slow, frustrating commute.
Another project piled on at work.
Getting into that same old fight with your partner.
Our modern lives are so full and busy that the stressors quickly can add up and become problematic almost before we realize it. We can find ourselves angry or sullen for no easily identifiable reason.
We start to isolate. Our sleep suffers. Anxiety crops up.
You may dismiss your symptoms and try to soldier through, but a skilled therapist can help you manage your stress, before you're overwhelmed.
Our mental health is the product of a constellation of moving parts. Which is why it can change from day to day. But therapy? Really? Just for overwhelm and anxiety? Answer: YES.
Next question: what does a therapist do?
The truth is that therapy is not just reserved for people with ‘real problems’. Therapy can help just about anyone, in just about any situation. Therapy's reason for being is simple: to help people work through their issues, big or small. And there's no benefit to waiting until things feel impossible to manage. As a matter of fact, utilizing a therapist before you're completely overwhelmed is a smart move.
A few benefits of therapy:
Therapy Builds Important Connections Between Past and Present
The iceberg analogy is a beautiful illustration of the fact that there is so much more to our lives than what you see on the surface. Everyone has a past. Therefore, everyone has a unique set of unconscious drivers. In our day to day life, our past experiences feed these invisible drivers, and they influence our present emotional landscape.
This is one of the key reasons why talking with a therapist who is skilled in recognizing the links between the past and the present helps. You can begin to make connections between your current emotional landscape and your past experiences. It’s in these connections where people start to find freedom.
Therapy Gives the Gift of Self Knowledge
Do you ever find yourself 'overreacting' to a situation? You know, something relatively minor happens and suddenly you're caught up in a strong wave of emotion, and feeling helpless on how to crawl out of the current. When you find yourself flooded, you might be experiencing what we call a trigger. Being triggered is not just emotional, it's also a physical reaction. It can feel as if we are under attack. Recognizing this is a good thing. Triggers can be used as beacons to guiding you into a more balanced state of being.
One of the gifts of therapy is that you get to know yourself. Your emotions are strong indicators of where you need to shine the light of self-discovery.
With self-knowledge, you can begin to recognize your triggers and use tools to calm and ground yourself. Therapy doesn't promise to create a life with only positive emotions, but it always helps you to deal with the more challenging ones.
Therapy Gives You Tools to Deal with Your Problems
This is the best part. A therapist's first goal is to create a safe space where you can feel free to share. Once you've unpacked some of the things you've been carrying with you and have a chance to see them for what they are, you can access your therapist’s ‘toolbox’ for help and healing.
Whether it's through one to one counselling, EMDR therapy or life coaching, a therapist helps you build a specific set of skills that will uniquely benefit you in your life, and this all sparks from the talking that you do in your sessions.
