When to consider psychotherapy

The question of when to consider psychotherapy is quite common and one most people struggle with.  In the Midwest, the mentality tends to be to “pull myself up by the bootstraps” instead of asking for help.  We have a view that asking for help is “weak”, so we ignore issues until they go away or become so large, they are unavoidable.  A lot of people are not certain about when their issues are to the point where psychotherapy could be beneficial.  If you are one of those people, the list below is for you!  This list is definitely not exhaustive but gives a good overview of how therapy can be helpful for a wide variety of issues we all face.  If you have any specific questions, feel free to give us a call!  We would be happy to answer any and all questions.

When to consider psychotherapy:

• Experiencing something that causes distress and interferes with your functioning in one or more parts of your life (e.g., calling in sick to work when you are not sick)
• Not able to get out of bed in the morning
• Withdrawing from loved ones
• Overwhelming and/or uncontrollable worry
• Feeling negative all, or most, of the time
• Feeling jittery and on edge all, or most, of the time
• Feeling stressed by medical stressors and conditions, caregiving, or anything else.
• Not sleeping at night
• Feeling sluggish and low energy with no medical explanation for it
• Feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities and not knowing how much longer you can continue with your current lifestyle
• Thoughts of being better off dead
• Irritability or anger that you have difficulties controlling
• Feeling hopeless
• Panic or anxiety attack symptoms—heart racing, shortness of breath, chest heaviness, nausea, abdominal distress
• Self-medicating with things that can be harmful—alcohol, social media, gambling, shopping
• Someone has mentioned to you that you should “talk to someone”
• Difficulties managing medical conditions and/or not taking care of yourself
• Not feeling well or healthy overall (e.g., stressed, rushed, chaotic)
• Feeling “stuck” or struggling to achieve personal and/or professional goals

There are numerous resources in the Fargo-Moorhead community where you could seek psychotherapy, including Becoming Balanced.  We are more than happy to help connect you to the most appropriate resources in the community if we are not a good fit for your needs.