5 Signs To Start Therapy
The information below is provided as educational content and does not replace diagnosis, treatment, or healthcare advice from a medical provider. Content may be used for wide-ranging self-improvement purposes but may not be suitable for each person.
Blogs are brief: this information is not all-encompassing; seek out more knowledge from other sources. Knowledge is power, seek more power!
If you or someone you know are experiencing a difficult time or thoughts about self-harm or suicide: Alaska Careline: 877-266-4357; call 911 for immediate crisis.
Consult with your healthcare team for any concerns or changes to your health or well-being.
When to Start Therapy
Are you searching “therapist near me” on Psychology Today or asking if now is the time to see a new therapist (or call up your former therapist)?
Research suggests that people take an average of 2 years from considering therapy to finishing an intake appointment.
Similar to other health issues, therapy encourages a shorter treatment timeline and less severe symptomatology when used as an early intervention.
Folks with mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety, or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) fare better when they seek treatment sooner rather than later.
This blog will explore 5 lesser-known signs within adult populations that indicate psychotherapy or counseling will be helpful.
5 Signals It's Time To Start Therapy
1. Feeling easily overwhelmed, irritable, anxious, or dysregulated
When people are faced with stressors that exceed one’s ability to “cope” or make meaning in an adaptive manner, small inconveniences may warp into “big” triggers.
Emotion Regulation Skills for Adults
2. Negative self-talk, “I am a failure,” or feeling insecure, worthless, or not good enough
Negative self-talk is a facet of low self-esteem or low self-worth. Negative self-talk includes derogatory, hurtful, critical remarks about oneself.
Negative self-talk may include thoughts such as, “I’m never good enough,” “Nothing I try ever works,” “I don’t deserve love,” or “My life will be better after I lose Xlbs.”
7 Ways to Provide Self-Compassion
3. A pattern or history of short-lived relationships
People who struggle to maintain long-lasting relationships whether intimate, romantic, friendly, or other social relationships typically have difficulties in other areas of life.
Not all connections turn into friendships or other relationships, and working with a professional counselor or psychologist to help understand unhelpful patterns in your relationships can be illuminating and liberating.
10 Signs of Healthy (& Unhealthy) Relationships
4. Using substances more (and more) to cope
Using substances such as alcohol, cannabis, pills, caffeine, energy drinks, or tobacco can signal poor stress management, ineffective coping skills, or worsening mental health.
If people close to you have expressed concern at the amount you drink or consume, that is a sign to reflect on substance use.
Turning to substances to cope is a short-term relief that does not alleviate the underlying stressor, concern, or issue. Talking with a professional can help identify the causes and urges towards using a substance and explore other activities to replace habits such as drinking or smoking.
5. Putting other people down to feel better about yourself
We all play a role in the dysfunction in our relationships; every person is a work in progress.
If you find yourself reflecting on previous relationships and only focus on what the other person did, the lesson from that relationship will be missed and you can bet on entering more unhealthy relationships in the future.
People may put down others from a place of insecurity or low self-worth in an attempt to feel better, though that “better” isn’t really “better,” because nothing *really* changed.
Talking with a professional will help explore feelings of insecurity and patterns of unhealthy communication and unhelpful coping habits and identify personal growth edges, to encourage healthy long-lasting relationships and mental well-being.
If you live in Alaska and are searching for a new therapist, I am accepting new telehealth individual therapy clients: call today for a free 20-minute initial consultation 907-744-7026
About the Author
Nicole Zegiestowsky, M.S. (she/her)
Hello!
My name is Nicole and I am pre-licensed online LGBTQ+ therapist for adults in Alaska. I specialize in providing perinatal and postpartum counseling, and am passionate about working with women and non-binary adults for concerns related to anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Learn more about the psychological services I provide:
Online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTI) Group Therapy