Your Life Doesn’t Have to Be a Mess to Benefit from Counseling

There is a common misconception that therapists only counsel with people whose lives are a mess. No doubt that every therapist sees their fair share of messy lives. It comes with the territory. But know this: your life doesn’t have to be a mess to benefit from counseling services.

We like to think of counseling therapy as a form of preventative medicine, so to speak. For instance, you probably see your doctor at least once per year. You get your annual physical just to make sure that nothing is wrong. And if you do start feeling a little funky, you’re not afraid to pop into the doctor’s office for a quick checkup.

Counseling can be utilized the same way. You don’t have to be in the midst of a full-fledged emotional emergency to schedule a session with a therapist. Even if you are feeling just a little bit off, one or two therapy sessions could get you back to where you feel you need to be.

Reasons People Seek Counseling

Much of what we do here at Relationships & More revolves around couples therapy and marriage counseling. Clients come to us seeking help to repair their broken relationships. But we also offer individual counseling as well. Clients come to visit for a variety of reasons:

Sadness or Lack of Motivation

What appears to be unexplained sadness or a lack of motivation can lead people to believe there is something wrong with them emotionally. Counseling therapy is a good way to address those concerns. In fairness, sadness and lack of motivation can be symptoms of a clinical problem, like depression. But they don’t have to be. And in fact, almost all of us experience both emotions from time to time.

Excessive Stress

Another reason people seek out individual counseling is because they are having trouble managing excessive stress. Their jobs have them stressed out. Family problems have them worried to the point of being unable to think about anything else.

Stress can do a lot of strange things to both the mind and body. You might even say that stress is one of the most unhealthy things human beings experience. Individual counseling can go a long way toward reducing or eliminating stress.

Trouble With the Kids

Kids are not born holding an owner’s manual. Parents have to learn how to be parents as they go. Unfortunately, it is not as easy for some as it is for others. Those in the former category can find themselves overwhelmed by parenting efforts they deemed to be failing. Individual counseling can help. In some cases, family and adolescent counseling can also help.

Significant Life Changes

In addition to everything else this post has discussed, we all go through life changes. Some of them are quite significant. For example, all of us will experience the loss of a loved one at some point. Many of us will experience a serious illness, loss of a job, serious financial problems, etc. Some of our marriages will fail.

These life changes are more than capable of creating complete upheaval. In the midst of such a change, being emotionally overwhelmed is not unusual. Once again, individual counseling can help a great deal.

No, your life doesn’t have to be a mess to benefit from counseling. Sitting down and speaking with a therapist can help you feel better about your life. It can help you sort things out and move forward in a more positive way. If that is something you are interested in, we invite you to visit our Westchester, NY counseling center.