Individuals
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Going to therapy takes vulnerability and bravery, and even considering it is an amazing first step toward a healthier, more fulfilled life. Therapy is helpful in countless ways, from increasing self-awareness to treating mental illnesses to helping create change in your life. You don’t have to have mental illness to seek therapy. In fact, there are many reasons to attend therapy, and every reason is valid and welcome.
Despite this, symptoms of mental illness are often a catalyst for seeking therapy. Mental illness is a very prevalent experience, affecting 1 in 5 adults in the United States every year. Some may experience an episode of mental illness as a result of life circumstances, while others suffer from chronic mental illnesses that persist for years or even decades. No matter the conditions of one’s mental illness, going to therapy is the first step to treating symptoms and finding skills to manage it.
Who Most Often Attends Therapy?
All are welcome to attend therapy, but there are certain groups who do so more often than others. Women are more likely to go to therapy than men, with 25.6% of women seeking mental health treatment in the last year compared to 14.6% of men. This is likely because of the different expectations of gender roles, rather than a reflection of rates of mental illness.
Along with this, 18-25 year olds are most likely to attend therapy compared to other age groups. In general, young people are going to therapy at higher rates than older people. However, studies find that adults above the age of 44 are more likely to take medication for mental health issues than younger adults.
Another trend in therapy patients is that more white people attend therapy and take mental illness medications than other groups. Black people and Hispanic/Latino people attend therapy at similar rates, while Asian people and Native/Pacific Islanders have the lowest rates. This is due mostly to accessibility to mental health services and cultural stigmas, rather than an indication of rates of mental illness.
Why Do People Go to Therapy?
People come to therapy for a vast number of reasons, from life transitions to depression to feeling stuck. There’s no bad reason to come to therapy, and you don’t need to have a serious mental illness to seek counseling. Although there can be a societal stigma against therapy and mental illness as a whole, being in therapy doesn’t mean that you’re “crazy” or nonfunctional. In fact, many clients are regular people who are simply interested in working through feelings, better understanding themselves, or reaching life goals.
Some clients come to therapy because they want to improve their lives, while others go into therapy after a specific event like a trauma or life change. In the case of a life transition, therapists can help clients adjust to new circumstances and give clients emotional tools to deal with feelings surrounding the change. As for trauma, therapy can function as a safe space to process difficult emotions and experiences, along with providing coping skills for being triggered.
A minority of therapy clients seek help because they’re mandated to in a court ruling or by a parent. Although therapy is most effective when the client is motivated to be there, it can provide clarity, support, and empowerment no matter the circumstances. With the right therapist, one can reach new goals, improve one’s relationships, better manage emotions, and grow in a myriad of ways.
Issues Often Treated in Therapy
Although clients seek support for a range of reasons, there are a number of common issues that many clients experience. Some of the issues most frequently treated in therapy include:
Depression
Depression is the leading cause of disability and illness across the globe, affecting 280 million people. There are three types of depression: major depressive disorder, seasonal affective disorder and persistent depressive disorder. This ubiquitous disorder manifests in many ways, affecting one’s moods, impacting the ability to function in day-to-day life, and making it difficult to enjoy one’s passions or succeed in the workplace.
Depression can range from mild to severe and may get better or worse due to life circumstances and events. Some symptoms of this disorder are feelings of sadness, anxiety, a loss of interest in hobbies, changes in sleep and eating, fatigue, and thoughts of death or suicide. Depression can be treated with psychotherapy, medications, or a combination of the two.
To Read more about how we treat depression at CBT/EMDR Associates click here.
Anxiety
Another prevalent mental illness is anxiety, which shows up in several different disorders, like generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and phobias. Although everyone experiences anxiety from time to time, those with anxiety disorders feel anxiety to the degree that it affects their daily lives and causes difficulty functioning.
Anxiety also manifests in several ways and can be mild to severe. People suffering from anxiety disorders can experience frequent feelings of worry, sleep disturbances, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and unexplained physical pain. Clients with phobia disorders have anxiety about a specific object or situation, causing them to avoid the object of their fear and feel intense anxiety when they must encounter it.
To Read more about how we treat anxiety at CBT/EMDR Associates click here.
Addiction and Substance Use Disorders
Addiction is also a common mental illness, affecting almost 21 million people in the U.S. Alcohol use disorder is the most widespread substance addiction in the U.S., followed by nicotine and marijuana. Some other substances often involved are opioids, cocaine, and stimulants. There are also non-substance addictions, such as gambling, watching porn, or eating.
Those suffering from addictions and substance use disorders are compelled to engage with harmful substances or behaviors continually, despite the damage this causes to their lives. This can result in the destruction of their relationships, careers, health, and safety. Despite the stigma surrounding addiction, this is truly a mental health disorder that typically requires professional treatment to heal. In therapy, clients learn skills to help them stop engaging in harmful substances and behaviors, along with working on underlying issues that may have caused the addiction.
Feeling Stuck
One reason that many clients decide to seek counseling is a feeling of stagnancy in life. Some clients feel dissatisfied or unfulfilled and don’t know what to change to fix this, and others are stuck in a particular area, like romance or career. Therapy can be a great way to get to the root of the problem and figure out how to move forward, providing an outside perspective to your issues.
Grief
Grief is a universal human experience, but this doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. One can grieve many things, from loved ones to dreams to one’s health. Going to therapy can be incredibly beneficial for managing these emotions and learning how to cope with them. In therapy, one can gain more understanding about the grieving process, along with gaining skills to deal with the difficult emotions that come with it.
To Read more about how we treat grief at CBT/EMDR Associates click here.
Life Transitions
Going through changes in life is another reason that brings many clients into therapy. Although change is a part of life, it can be emotionally destabilizing to experience it. Some typical life transitions are breakups/divorces, changes in career, new life stages, and moving to a new place. It can be difficult to find one’s footing during a transition, especially if it was unplanned, and therapy can be a great place to cultivate stability.
Trauma
Experiencing a traumatic event, such as a car crash, assault, abusive relationship, or near-death experience, is one impetus for therapy. After a traumatic event, it can be difficult to return to life as normal, and it’s common to experience depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therapy helps clients process the trauma healthily and manage any emotions or difficulties that arise because of the experience. Others come to therapy because they have a history of trauma that’s affecting their current life, such as unresolved childhood trauma.
To Read more about how we treat trauma at CBT/EMDR Associates click here.
Reach out now to find out more about how we at CBT/EMDR Associates can help you on your therapy journey.