How To Deal With Counselors

As a listener, time and again people express negative emotions about seeing a counselor or going for therapy. Sometimes, it makes them think it means that there is something 'wrong' with them, or that they are 'damaged.' Sometimes, they don't understand how to open up to a stranger.

Our society already has so many stigmas around mental illnesses. The level of ignorance is so high that it is either always dehumanized or romanticized, and I can't even choose which is worse.

This needs to be talked about.

First of all, we need to learn to remember that a psychologist is just a doctor. Nothing more than a doctor. Nothing less than a doctor. Now equate this to a physical disease. If you go and see a doctor for a physical ailment, does that make you 'damaged'? No! Maybe you're ill. Maybe you have a fever. Maybe you have an injury. You have a problem. You deserve a solution.

You are not damaged if you see a counselor.

Secondly, sometimes people wonder if the counselor actually cares about them, and this prevents them from opening up. Once again, equate it to seeing a doctor for a physical ailment. Would you wonder if the doctor actually cares about you if you were seeing him to treat a fever? No! Because that is his profession. He is supposed to help you.

Yes, I get it. Talking about a headache and talking about a traumatic situation are two very different things. But in a relationship between and counselor and a patient, we fail to realize that the patient actually has the power. Did you know a counselor has to LEGALLY, I repeat- *LEGALLY* keep anything that you tell him, confidential? (Unless you express a desire to commit suicide or a homicide.) And if he is unable to help you, it is his prestige, his job at stake. If he isn't able to help you, it is on him, not on you.

I used to find it very difficult to talk about my problems to counselors. So what I do is, I write. I write whatever I have to say. It's less overwhelming, I can actually frame what I want to say, and it works.

Lastly, has a therapist ever said something rude to you? Something that made you feel like you don't deserve to be helped, because the people who can help you choose not to? I want you to realize right now, that it is on them. Not on you. They're bad at their job. So, see another doctor. Have no shame in asking for help. You deserve help. You deserve happiness. xx