How Do I Know If I Need To See A Psychologist? 6 Tips
Knowing when it is time to go to the psychologist is not always easy. After all, Psychological problems can take a wide variety of forms and it is difficult to speak of a specific profile of the person who attends psychotherapy consultations.
Depending on the social context in which we live, our needs and preferences, and even our personality, the reasons why we may need professional help vary greatly.
Thus, it is relatively normal that between detecting discomfort and going to a psychology center for the first time, there is a period of time in which the patient wonders… How do I know if I need a psychologist? Let’s look at several key tips and ideas to help you make the best decision.
Mental health has gone from being an area in which “crazy people” were stigmatized to one in which it is understood that the mind is too complicated to be classified into the categories “healthy” and “sick.” We now understand that psychological problems, regardless of their severity, fall within normality: The strange thing would be not to have gone through any of them at some point in our lives
Therefore, many people are not sure how to decide which line they are supposed to cross to have a good reason to go to therapy. In the following lines we will see several guidelines to know when a psychologist is needed.
There are people who consider whether or not to go to a psychologist simply because they do or have done something that someone has told them is wrong.
However, this is not a good criterion for considering whether to go to a psychotherapy consultation, because the focus of the therapy is not exactly on the ethical scales that each person follows, but in the idea of whether or not there is suffering associated with a behavior. Suffering in the person who does it or in the people around the person who does it.
On the other hand, the same behavior can be called immoral by one person, and completely normal by another. Moral dilemmas, although relevant, are not the priority of psychotherapy.
2. Make sure it’s psychological
Psychologists treat cognitive and emotional problems, but not those that have to do with physical pain. No, headaches don’t count either.
Yes indeed, in the event that there is a physical condition that generates psychological consequences such as stress or obsessive ideas, then it is appropriate to consider whether to go to psychotherapy or not.
3. Does discomfort keep you from a normal life?
When deciding when to go to the psychologist, this question is key, since helps to understand the severity of the discomfort experienced
4. Define the type of problem there is
First of all, we must try to understand where the problem that makes us suffer or makes us feel bad begins and where it ends.
The first thing to ask yourself is whether the problem is mainly one’s own or not ; If the problem clearly has to do with the context, and not with oneself, it is not worth attending therapy. For example, if a homosexual person is gay and at the same time feels very good about his or her life, he or she should not go to therapy even if certain people treat him or her like someone who is sick, since in this case the problem is only homophobia and this does not reach to cause significant psychological wear.
Now, the answer to the question of whether the problem is in oneself or in others will normally not be very clear, since psychology also has to do with the way in which people relate to the environment and this environment. affects them.
In any case, it must be taken into account that it is possible that oneself may have a problem experiencing a lot of suffering. and that the responsibility for the problem lies with others An example of this would be the discomfort experienced when being harassed.
5. Ask for advice
This is an important resource that is often underutilized. Asking for the opinion of friends and family helps to have an interesting perspective, since although it may seem paradoxical, others are capable of giving us more information about what happens to us than we ourselves have by the simple fact of living those experiences. The emotional involvement It can distort our understanding of our lives.
6. Ask yourself if the problem is recurring
If the discomfort lasts a few hours or a few days and you think it will go away shortly, in most cases you will not need the help of a psychotherapist. The exception to this has to do with traumatic events such as the loss of a loved one or suffering from an accident. In these cases, it is more likely that you will require help due to the possibility of developing sequelae, although not always.
