Five Signs It’s Time to Seek Mental Health Counseling
How do you know when it’s time to seek help from a professional? Here are five signs that it’s time to reach out to a mental health counselor.
Struggling with Your Feelings
Are you feeling sad, lonely, empty, or angry? Do you feel like nobody cares about you? Having negative feelings like these are normal and often part of everyday life. It isn’t unusual to have any of these feelings for short periods of time, especially when reacting to things not going your way. But when you are facing these negative feelings for prolonged periods of time, it might be time to seek professional help. By discussing these feelings with a licensed professional counselor, they can help you:
- Identify possible triggers
- Help you to find better ways to cope with these feelings
- Help you work towards recovery
Seeking mental health counseling for prolonged negative feelings isn’t a sign of weakness – it’s actually a sign of strength. It’s being brave enough to admit you may have an issue and taking a big step in the right direction towards feeling better.
Abusing Addictive Substances or Compulsive Behaviors
When struggling with negative feelings, some people can turn to substances and/or behaviors to help them feel better. While the occasional slice of chocolate cake or glass of wine when feeling down can help lift your spirits, the repetitive abuse of these coping measures can lead to addiction and/or compulsion and take you down a dangerous path.
If you repetitively seek solace from substances such as food, drugs or alcohol or regularly deploy certain behaviors such as using sex to cope, and it’s starting to spiral out of control, then it’s time to seek help from a professional.
Grieving
Grief can take on many forms, the most common of which is grieving over the loss of a loved one. But other things, often caused by a traumatic event, can trigger it too. Some of these traumatic events may include:
- Getting a divorce
- Loss of a significant relationship
- Loss of a pet
- Being fired or laid off from a job
- Loss of a certain lifestyle
- A forced relocation to another area and/or being unable to be close to loved ones
Just as grief can take on many forms, so can the grieving process. Grief can manifest itself in the form of immense emotional and/or physical suffering. And it can cause a wide range of emotions – anything from anger to denial, to guilt, sadness and/or despair.
If grief is leading to prolonged negative feelings or manifesting itself in dangerous or destructive ways, it is time to seek professional help. Even if you just need someone to talk to or a little help going through the grieving process, there is no shame in seeking counseling from a mental health professional.
Dealing with a Trauma
Just as grief can take on many forms, so can dealing with a traumatic event. A few of the more common traumatic events people seek therapy for are:
- Having a history of abuse, neglect, or other emotional trauma
- Suffering a serious injury
- Being diagnosed with a chronic illness and/or suffering from a severe medical problem
- Being a victim of a crime or accident
Seeking help from a mental health professional to help you deal with the emotions that often accompany a traumatic event and learning healthy ways to cope can often lead to a faster recovery.
Not Enjoying Your Life
Sometimes you just feel ‘off’ or otherwise just ‘not like yourself’. You may have stopped participating in activities you ordinarily enjoy. You may be eating or sleeping more than usual. You may be withdrawing from friends and family. Or you just don’t feel like you normally do and it’s starting to impact your thoughts and behaviors — it’s time to seek help. Talk to a mental health professional to address these feelings before they escalate any further.
And if you start to have thoughts of death or suicide, reach out for help immediately. If you feel you are a danger to yourself or others or are experiencing a medical emergency – Call 911 immediately.
Seeking Help from a Mental Health Professional
Most people who choose to seek professional help for their mental health benefit from counseling. Even if they aren’t sure they need help, they tend to find that talking about their issues can be therapeutic. And they often learn tools and/or skills that help them in their everyday life.
If you are experiencing any of the signs listed in this article and are interested in seeking mental health counseling, please contact Dr. Alyx MacTernan, Founder of Elemental Mental Health. She has the experience and professional credentials to provide the counseling services you may need.
Dr. Alyx MacTernan offers telemental health counseling services to residents of Georgia and Texas.
The five signs it’s time to seek mental health counseling are based off of the original article 5 Signs It’s Time to Seek Therapy by David Sack M.D. published in Psychology Today.