Years back I remember watching the movie "Dear Zindagi" which mainly discussed mental health and therapy. It made me think wow, all you need is such therapy. This is the best thing.
Today however I realize, how wrong that picture of therapy was. I have now debunked many myths about therapy that you might expect going into one.
Firstly unlike the movie, there are 0% chances that you will have your therapy at a beach house in Goa (A place where you land and half of your sadness is gone) & your therapist will be charming SRK with cute dimples sharing his personal life (Remaining sadness has gone :P).
Your therapist will be a professional and your sessions will be either in their office or in today's time on audio/video call.
Don't expect immediate results from the first session. It is not going to turn your depression into happiness in one day. There is no flip button. Instead, it is a process of learning to manage your emotions and it takes time. Your therapist will be your guide in this.
There might be times that you don't hit it off with a psychiatrist/therapist. Don't be scared and don't drop the idea. Consider your therapist as a custom-made dress for you. Not every dress that you try on fits you. If you have a bad experience or you are not satisfied, research and find the right one. Read reviews and see who fits you the best.
Your therapist is not your friend or replacement of a friend and similarly, your friend cannot be your therapist. Your friend might listen to you at times but remember they might have some issues or troubles of their own. The therapist will help you have balanced friendships and relationships.
Therapy at first will make you uncomfortable. You might find things and tasks hard to follow, they might be opposite of your nature or your comfort zone. Try and follow your therapist's instructions, work on your issues, and eventually, things will get better. This is why you started therapy remember that.
Don't think that you will always need therapy. You might need it for a while say weeks, months, or years based on your problem but the ultimate goal is to teach you to handle things on your own in the future. This is the successful outcome of the therapy.
The hardest part is admitting that you need help and taking that first step. Don't worry, reach out to a professional, it takes courage but things will get easier from there. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. You are strong enough to accept your issues and work on them.
As I am writing this, I hope that you are not going through issues or have experienced this. But if you have, you know the struggle then you are an inspiration. You know mental health better than people around you. Use this experience to help others, create awareness, make the chain. You educate five people they might educate five more. If you feel someone is disturbed or in a similar situation encourage them to seek help. Help them by sharing your good experience. Share with them the habits you adopted that helped you. Help them in connecting with professionals but in any case, DO NOT share your medications, You are not supposed to do that you guide them to professionals and let them do their job from there.
In this map of life, your therapist is your GPS navigator, their clinic is your Google map but you are the one holding the steering wheel. Follow the GPS but put efforts into driving yourself and you won't even know when you will get so familiar with roads and will be driving seamlessly.
"Tu Koshish to kar hal niklega,
Aaj nahi to kal niklega- Ananad Param"
P.S: if you are someone who needs help taking the first step or confused about how to reach out to a professional, my inbox is open for you.
