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4 Reasons Why Therapy Is Useful for Everyone Regardless of Mental Illness
There are many benefits to therapy, and contrary to what you might have seen on TV, you don’t have to lay on a couch and talk about your mother. In fact, you don’t have to have problems with your mother at all. Here are just a few ways that therapy can help people from all walks of life.
Emotional Regulation
One of the hallmarks of therapy is learning how to identify, distinguish, and process your emotions. If you’re an angry person, for example, you might realize that you’re feeling a lot more than just anger when you lash out, such as fear or a loss of control. Therapy can teach you coping mechanisms for dealing with these emotions in a healthy way, and you can take these newfound skills and apply them to all areas of your life. You don’t have to be mentally ill to benefit from emotional management.
Better Problem Solving
A therapist won’t have all of the answers for you. Instead, they’ll be a guide for you to figure out how to solve your problems yourself. They’ll offer a new perspective for your issues, and they’ll ask questions that get you thinking deeply about your life, your relationships, and your future. By serving as a sounding board for your troubles, they can help you work out solutions for whatever is bothering you.
Socialization
Struggling with your mental health can be a very isolating thing. Whether you’re anxious, depressed, or trying to manage a mood or personality disorder, it isn’t at all uncommon to feel cut off from the rest of your peers. Therapy, however, can bring you back. It can help you forge real connections with other human beings. This is especially true if you join a support group or sign up for something like group therapy. Not only can you benefit from social interaction with others, but you can also reinforce the idea that you aren’t alone in feeling the way that you do.
Improved Physical Health
Better mental health can lead to better physical health. For example, studies have shown that the act of conversation can release feel-good chemicals in the brain, so just talking about your problems can lessen your body’s stress response to them. Another potential benefit of therapy is alleviating the physical symptoms of emotional problems. If you’re depressed, for example, these negative emotions might manifest as headaches, insomnia, or fatigue. Gaining control over these feelings can help you sleep better and have more energy.
Everyone can benefit from therapy, including people with all kinds of mental health conditions and those with no conditions at all. At its core, therapy is simply opening up to someone and giving them the opportunity to both hear you and help you.
