6 Benefits of Mental Health Therapy

Many people are under the impression that mental health therapy is only for people that have mental health problems such as personality disorders or for people that have gone through some trauma, however that is not really accurate.

It goes without saying that we need to look after our bodies. We go to the dentist regularly for checkups, we schedule our mammograms and pap smears even though we may have no physical problems that we can see. The same should be true of our mental health.

Mental health therapy offers many benefits including:

Improved Relationships

We all have struggles with relationships at some stage in our life, whether it be with our spouse, our parents, siblings, friends or even our boss. Therapy can help us to improve our relationships with others.

Life Skills

We need life skills in order to survive in the world and while we may think that we have all the skills we need when we reach adulthood that is simply not the case – nobody has a complete set of life skills. We can always improve and build on our life skills which will make us not only better able to cope with anything that life throws us, but also make us happier people overall.

Life skills include things like setting and maintaining health boundaries with others, building self-esteem, balancing work and family and setting and achieving life goals.

Managing Transitions

Going through any sort of change is hard and having therapy sessions will make it so much easier to cope through any transition. Examples of transitions can be the following:

• Getting married
• Going through a divorce
• Having a child
• Moving home
• Changing career
• Empty nest
• Death of a loved one

Any type of transition, even ones that bring joy and happiness such as marriage, can bring about feelings of anxiety and insecurity. Being able to work through these transitions will make it easier to cope and help to make the change smoother.

 

Self-care

Many women believe that it is their job to put the needs of others first, especially as mothers. It is essential to learn that self-care is in fact not selfish, it is an important part of looking after oneself.

Therapy can help you to see and understand where you are failing yourself and help you to look after yourself better. It is important to come to realize that you need to look after yourself first in order to be a good mother and a good wife to your husband. It is also vital for your own mental health.

Management of Anxiety, Depression and Personality Disorders

There is still such a stigma attached to having a mental health disorder, however mental health disorders are more common than you may think. Many women struggle with an diagnosed mood or personality disorder and don’t understand why they are so unhappy.

Therapy can teach you how to manage your moods and how to change your thinking.

Work Through Past Trauma

If you have been through anything traumatic in your past you may feel that you have dealt with it and moved on but you may be surprised how past trauma can affect how you think, feel and behave today.

Things that have happened in your past may affect your relationships, work and your self confidence today.

Going for therapy can help you to identify abuse and trauma, and to work through those painful memories to reduce the damaging effect it has on your life today.