How therapy can help

Priya Lakhanpaul MBACP

Though we may occasionally turn to friends or family for help, some issues require professional support. You may face ongoing issues, not be able to get the exact help you need or want to talk to someone who wont judge or share anything you say.

Counselling and psychotherapy provide professional psychological support which is ethically underpinned by non-judgment and confidentiality.

It aims to help you find a way through challenges, heal from wounds, improve wellbeing and create healthy relationships both with others and yourself.

Therapy with a highly aware, knowledgeable and empathic professional provides space to be heard, to explore what is going on and be fully supported in working through things so you feel better equipped to deal with the issues you face.

While counselling is usually a shorter term therapeutic intervention, psychotherapy is longer in duration and can focus on issues with greater depth, exploring the psychological underpinnings relevant to presenting issues at a deeper level and aims to bring about longer term and holistic changes.

What issues can therapy help with?

Contrary to the belief that counselling and psychotherapy is only for complex mental health issues, many clients seek therapy for everyday issues which can lead to stress and impact wellbeing. When issues remain unresolved, this can lead to increasing anxiety, feeling stuck or confused, low mood, anger or depression. Sometimes problems have gone on for some time or stem from the past and may have led to coping through addictions or self-harm, or other unhealthy patterns of behaviour.

Common issues

Common reasons for seeking counselling include self-esteem, anxiety, relationships, work, family conflicts, loss and bereavement, parenthood, ill health, ageing, identity or direction in life. Other commons reasons are because of challenges faced by neurodiversity, disability, race or gender/sexuality.

Past issues

Counselling and psychotherapy can address significant impacts caused by the past or from childhood. Whilst an individual may not, in the present moment, still experience the acuteness of earlier events, it is common to carry emotional pain and the effects of issues which occurred in our younger years into adult life.

Clients who have grown up with parents with mental health issues or behavioural tendencies such as anxiety can also absorb parental complexes and be affected well into adulthood.

Individuals who have experienced trauma or abuse of any kind find therapy to provide a safe and reparative space to heal, in which to deal with negative impacts that such events have had.

Emotional issues can also occur if we have had to keep aspects of ourselves hidden or unexpressed to fit in with expectations. At a point in our lives we can come to feel unhappy with the path we have taken and question our identity or meaning or purpose in life if we have lived according to others’ projections. Counselling and psychotherapy provide space to explore one’s inner self, relationship to the world and move towards developing one’s own true potential, authenticity and purpose.

Goals

Another reason clients approach therapy is to work on goals they wish to achieve. Counselling provides an extremely productive space to work on personal or professional goals and understand oneself at a deeper level and explore motivational drives. Often goals can change or become refined as individuals experience a shift toward a truer understanding of themselves.

Unfolding the layers

In many instances, as one area is addressed, the client and therapist discover other issues underneath. These can often emerge while unfolding what is going on in the present situation. Such discoveries can have a fundamental effect on an individual, and can lead to self-growth, empowerment and self-actualisation.

Counselling changes lives.