Breaking Past the Stigma: Counseling

Life can hit very hard and very fast and at an unprecedented rate for the majority of human society, and in times like those, it can help to talk about it and get advice. While some people may have friends or family with whom they’re close to, those individuals may not be equipped to help and provide security as much as they want to. Those aforementioned people may also have their own issues and personal concerns that affect their own lives, and while they very much want to support their friends who suffer as well, it may come at a cost to their own mental health.

Counseling, however, offers a great alternative. Counseling provides someone who is qualified and eager to listen to your problems and woes while helping you to get to the root of them. Because, in the end, counseling does not want to simply give people temporary solutions only for the very same problems to resurface again, but, it is something meant to dig deep into exactly why someone is suffering from a certain mental illness and finding ways for them to cope and improve upon themselves.

Unfortunately, many people attach a certain stigma to counseling as they believe it to be for only those who are “weak” or even “psychotic.” There are those who believe counseling to be useless, and even those who simply don’t like the thought of opening up to a stranger can eschew counseling. However, counseling is really nothing to be afraid of and can help people who don’t even have mental illnesses.

An article from Wake Forest University titled “The Importance of Counseling” stated that, “Mental health issues can severely curtail an individual’s ability to lead a fulfilling life. They can cloud relationships, family life, and careers. Mental health conditions cut across economic, social, and racial groups. Issues such as depression and anxiety can affect people of all ages, from children to the elderly.”

Mental health can not only affect your mood but the very way you begin to perceive the world. It can even extend to the people around you, especially the people whom you care about the most. That is not to say that it is any way easy to work past harmful inner thoughts, but if the thought of trying to experience the world in its best light and being able to feel good and accepting of one’s own worth, then something like counseling may be the step for you.

Life, while certainly difficult, is still filled with wonderful experiences that everyone deserves to feel to the fullest. While mental health can throw a wrench in one’s plans, it doesn’t have to be the end either. You deserve to be happy and to enjoy your life, and even though counseling may seem like a big or even monumental step, the fact that you’re taking the initiative to do so is amazing.