Content Warning: Discussion of Mental Illness, Eating Disorders
Getting over my fear of therapy before I hit a mental health crisis was the best thing I did for my mental well-being.
Therapy is expensive, time-consuming and hard to find, but it is also life-changing and sometimes life-saving.
Starting therapy before you feel like you desperately need it can give you a strong support system and a foundation for help when your mental health really fails.
He had considered going to therapy for years.
I knew I needed it: I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder in high school and was depressed all through high school. However, whenever I was in the midst of a mental health crisis, I never seemed to bring myself to reach out for help.
I always told myself not to seek help when I needed it most. If I went to therapy, I would have to admit to others that I was struggling, so I avoided going even though I knew I needed to.
you were not alone In 2020, only 46.2% of people with mental illnesses received mental health services, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
The stigmatization of mental health problems affected me. I didn’t want to admit that things were as bad as they were, and I wanted to be able to handle it on my own.
I also didn’t want to put that financial burden on my family.
On average, therapy costs between $100 and $200 per session, depending on psychology todayalthough the price may also depend on the use of health insurance, which can reduce costs.
I thought the price was more than my family could handle and in my opinion, solving my mental health issues was not worth it.
Despite this, I got over my concerns and started going to therapy a few months ago.
My mental health was in a better place than it had been before, so this time I was not deterred.
Before going, I had initially questioned whether therapy was really worth it. If my mental health was in a good place, I didn’t want to waste money or time on something when I didn’t really need it. In the end, however, I decided to give it a try.
However, after only a few weeks of therapy, my mental health took a turn for the worse.
My anxiety became significantly more severe and began to inhibit my ability to eat. I would experience panic attacks every time I tried to eat and started having physical symptoms like constantly feeling dizzy from not eating and feeling like I couldn’t breathe out of the blue.
Fortunately, I already had the beginnings of an established support system in therapy.
I think if I hadn’t started therapy before this happened, my mental health would be significantly worse now, and I may have convinced myself that I wouldn’t seek help again.
The therapy helped me work on coping strategies and grounding exercises and gave me an outlet to talk about what I was experiencing without judgment.
He had a support system. She no longer had to handle things alone.
Unfortunately, this is not a privilege that everyone has due to the difficulties of finding available, accessible and affordable therapy.
The availability factor has only been amplified by COVID-19. The American Psychological Association found that 70% of psychologists said their waiting lists increased after the pandemic, according to a Washington Post article from October 29.
However, if you have the privilege of accessing therapy, I recommend that you take advantage of it.
It may be beneficial for people to seek therapy before facing a mental health crisis so they can be better prepared to handle a crisis when it occurs, according to a May 18, 2021 Healthline Article.
Getting therapy before you need it is all about prevention.
The skills you learn in therapy can help prevent a crisis from happening because you are actively developing the skills needed to keep your mental health in a good place.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, you will have a way to learn the skills you need to cope and get better. No more googling rabbit holes trying to figure out how to cope on my own.
For those who do not have the privilege of constant therapy in a private practice, UVM Psychiatry and Counseling Services could be a good start in finding alternatives.
LIDS offers short-term individual therapy sessions free of charge either in person or via Telehealth for all full-time students.
Although CAPS may be short-term, it can be a great way to start prioritizing finding a therapist and start building coping skills that could come in handy down the road.
Although I am still in the midst of my mental health crisis, therapy has become an incredible resource for me in my work to get better, and I cannot imagine going through this without it. My only regret is that I didn’t start earlier.
