Maybe you should talk to someone

Day 44 / 366

Therapy is a taboo subject in our country. While back in the day this might not have been that big of an issue, since people generally had better mental health, in today’s day and age it could be a useful tool for a lot of us. Unfortunately, there is a lack of education about what actually goes on in therapy, which leads to a lot of misconceptions.

Firstly, a therapist is not the same as a psychiatrist. The difference is that a therapist can’t prescribe you medicines while a psychiatrist can. In most cases how it works is that if you are experiencing mental health issues, you would first reach out to a therapist. They can then evaluate you and if they find that you need medication, they will refer you to a psychiatrist. So if what’s putting you off of therapy is the fear of medicines, don’t worry about that yet.

Another thing you should remember is that it doesn’t make you weak if you ask for help. Suppose you had a broken foot. You would go to see the doctor right? You wouldn’t try to just walk it off and stay strong or “be a man”. So why should we treat mental health any differently? Sometimes we fall into dangerous thought patterns. And if we don’t do something about them they lead us into a downward spiral. And like a frog in boiling water, soon you even forget what being normal feels like. You would know that something is wrong, but you will have a hard time explaining it to yourself or anyone else.

Shouldn’t you just talk to your friends or your loved ones? Of course you should! And a lot of time that helps. If you have someone in your life that you feel safe sharing your feelings with, go ahead and do that first. But if that doesn’t help, it’s ok to seek professional help as well. What a professional would do differently is that they would ask you specific questions to make you come to a realisation yourself. And when that happens, you are more likely to take the steps needed to fix your situation.

How do you find a good therapist? That’s the only tough part, especially in India. What has worked for me and people that I know is to try different therapists for a single session and see which one is best suited for you. An online 30-minute session should be enough for this.