Many people ruminate for quite a while before they ever step foot in therapy. They think about it for months, sometimes years, and privately contemplate it, and in the back of their head, they wonder if talking to someone would even do any good.
That hesitation is understandable. The stigma surrounding therapy has existed for a long time, especially in communities where fighting one’s demons was to be done quietly, asking for help was seen as weakness, and mental health resources were just not there or frankly not believed.
This comes down to being a person and declaring that you have more power in knowing yourself more clearly. Therapy allows a person the room or chance to work through their burdens, get new coping strategies, and gradually begin constructing the life that feels fuller and more secure.
What Psychotherapy Actually Is
Psychotherapy (also known as talk therapy or counseling) is a mental health treatment in which a trained clinician helps someone working with individuals, couples, families, or groups work on emotional or psychological problems.
Therapy is basically the comforting, nonjudgmental place where you get to sort through thoughts, feelings, behaviors and experiences.
You get clinical experience, evidence-based tools, and perspective from the therapist. The client is honest about that experience. This then sets up a basis for developing and healing together in the therapeutic relationship.
This could be a short-term therapy to help someone through something, or it can also be an exploratory, long-term type of remedy.
Some individuals look for therapy in times of crisis; others see it as a tool for personal growth or understanding their mind, body, and soul better in an attempt to become more content and improve their relationships with themselves and others.
Mending Is Not the Same as Being Fixed
One of the greatest misconceptions about therapy is that it means you will never be affected by anything difficult again.
Healing is neither becoming emotionless nor achieving closure. It is retraining how to relate to your experiences. You are becoming aware of patterns that may have dictated the order of your existence for years, often without you even fully realizing it. It is cultivating an ability to sit with the rough stuff without getting lost in it.
Therapy sometimes allows people to disentangle the difference between their history and what is happening right now. Most, if not all, emotional responses are based upon previous experiences, which we are often oblivious to. Through therapy, folks are better able to see those connections.
That is a slow process and it often does not feel good. The real work of therapy goes beyond lightness – it calls for honesty and vulnerability, facing long-avoided issues head-on. There is, however, a big difference between the pain of healing and doing it on your own.
Types of Therapy and Their Functions
Psychotherapy is not one single method. There are many evidence-based approaches developed to assist people with varying needs and difficulties.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a therapeutic modality that examines the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
The foundation of CBT is that it is not the situation itself that determines how a person will feel and react to it, but their way of interpreting the situation.
Negative automatic thoughts are cognitive patterns that can turn into a cycle of anxiety, depression, avoidance behavior, or self-criticism. The CBT trains the person to identify those patterns and then challenge that distorted way of thinking, so as not to go back into it again, replacing it with healthy behaviors.
Its practicality, organised structure and skills-based approach make it especially effective for anxiety disorders, depression, stress management and transitions.
Trauma-Informed Therapy
Not all trauma comes from one traumatic incident. It can also be formed from long-term stress, emotional instability and neglect, abuse, and long-term contact with insecure conditions.
Trauma-informed therapy approaches these life experiences and acknowledges that they can wire an individual’s nervous system, their experience of emotional regulation, relationships, and ability to feel safe within a lifetime.
Trauma-informed care addresses emotional safety, power, and stability rather than re-experiencing memories through pain. At the crux is regaining control over their lives and confidence in themselves and others.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Dialectical Behavior Therapy began primarily with a target population of emotionally vulnerable individuals with borderline issues and problematic behavior; however, it is now used in more diverse mental health settings.
DBT is based on four core skills:
- Mindfulness
- Distress tolerance
- Emotional regulation
- Interpersonal effectiveness
Also, if you feel very overwhelmed with your emotions or are in a continuous pattern of conflict within your relationship, DBT can provide skills to help make life more manageable on a daily basis.
What Growth in Therapy Actually Looks Like
Most people, when they think about therapy, tend to regard it as something for the relief of symptoms. Fewer panic attacks. Less anxiety. Better sleep. Reduced depression. Those outcomes matter tremendously.
But many people go through something so much more than the reduction of symptoms alone.
People learn more about who they are in therapy. They start to identify their emotional patterns before those emotional patterns take over. They are more transparent in their interactions. They no longer make any decisions from fear, guilt or avoidance.
Growth in therapy looks different for everyone.
- Greater self-awareness
- Healthier emotional boundaries
- More honest and stable relationships
- Better ability to cope with stress
- A stronger sense of identity
- Rebuilding the connection between hobbies, goals, and meaning
- Becoming more emotionally stable in daily life
Not all of these changes will be a dramatic turn, at least not overnight. Generally, they are minor adjustments in the process of being that allow a person to directly alter their experience of themselves and the world around them.
Who Can Benefit From Psychotherapy?
The short answer to this is: everyone.
Therapy is not only designed for when we are in crisis. No official diagnosis needed. You need not wait till it gets really bad.
Therapy can help people navigating:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Trauma
- Grief and loss
- Relationship difficulties
- Life transitions
- Burnout and stress
- Self-esteem issues
- Addiction and recovery
- Emotional overwhelm
It is also helpful for those who simply want to know themselves better and enrich their quality of life.
Going to therapy should not be viewed as a weakness or instability. Think of it as a decision to value your mental and emotional health the same way you would your physical health.
During Your Visit to KNK Mental Health Services
KNK Mental Health Services is a community-focused mental wellness practice with an unwavering commitment to providing compassionate psychiatric care and therapy to individuals, families, and underserved communities in Laurel and surrounding areas.
The practice offers:
- Individual psychotherapy
- Trauma counseling
- Medication management
- Telepsychiatry services
- Mental health support for children, youth and adults
KNK Mental Health Services provides care to residents of long-term care facilities and nursing homes to enhance access for those who may otherwise find it difficult to get the help they need.
But if you are already thinking about therapy, your thoughts should be taken seriously. You do not have to have everything sorted before seeking support.
Email: help@knk-mentalhealth.com
Location: 8101 Sandy Spring Rd Suite 250, Laurel, MD 20707
