While mental health and counselling are becoming more recognized and discussed in mainstream media, they still come with a large amount of social stigma.
Often, someone can have an issue they’d like to talk about, but they feel that they don’t want to be a burden, write it off as just a bad day, or can’t afford to even consider counselling.
However, with poor mental health affecting one in five US adults per year, this is an important issue that shouldn’t be ignored.
Mental health issues have been shown to affect our physical health as well, with conditions like depression and anxiety causing stomach problems, breakouts and intense fatigue, which only gets worse if the problem is left untreated. Sometimes, people don’t even realise that the physical symptoms are in fact an indicator of stress.
A counsellor can help you tackle those mental health concerns, which in turn will help improve the physical complaints you may be suffering with.
*this is a contributed article*
1. Anxiety
Worrying about starting a new job or making a big decision is very normal, but chronic anxiety is a larger problem. Individuals suffering from anxiety struggle to manage common situations and suffer from constant worry. For example, they may feel constantly afraid something bad will happen to them, or that they have done something wrong.
Anxiety can be incredibly hard to live with, as it can affect how a person lives their life, the relationships they have with others and can even impact physical health. One technique a counsellor might use is to address anxiety is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
This approach looks at why an individual might be experiencing anxious thoughts and helps them examine alternative ways of looking at the situation in order to challenge their initial reaction. By going through CBT, you can learn techniques that you can use going forward, so you can tackle new situations that cause you anxiety in the future.
2. Low Self-Esteem
Low self-esteem can lead to a lack of motivation, which can leave you stuck in a difficult cycle. One example of this is low self-esteem around physical appearance.
If you struggle with negative thoughts about how you look, low motivation can make it hard to kick-start change, such as adjusting how you eat or exercise, as well as challenging your thoughts. As a result, you go back to the feeling of low self-esteem and the cycle starts again.
A counsellor can help you examine your feelings about yourself, discuss where the thoughts are coming from, and therefore help you challenge them in order to break the negative cycle.
Doing this work can help you control these thoughts more regularly and so allow you to start to action the changes that you want to make.
3. Addiction
Addiction can be hugely detrimental to your physical health, especially alcohol and substance abuse. It can cause someone to get stuck in a cycle which can be incredibly challenging to get out of.
A counsellor can help to examine any underlying thoughts or experiences that may be making it harder for you to break away from addiction and select the most appropriate technique to help you make changes in your life.
It can also be useful for those who feel that they need to be held accountable for their actions in order to change their behaviour, as ongoing counselling sessions can give a check-in point to keep them on track.
Counselling can benefit a vast range of people, and as a result can help improve both mental and physical health.
Taking this step is a positive move and it’s worth taking the time to make sure that you find a counsellor you feel a rapport with and who can support you.
