Your Options In Receiving Counseling Help

If you believe you may benefit from receiving counseling help, there may be many options available. Counseling may be helpful for you if you’re experiencing overwhelming emotions, have gone through a loss, are living with substance misuse, are having trouble with your relationships, or no longer enjoy the things you used to love. Most counseling approaches are either psychodynamic or behavioral, but there are many counseling subtypes, so it’s likely you’ll be able to find one that works for you. You can also try attending therapy sessions online. 

How Do You Know If You Need Counseling Help?

It can be challenging to know when to seek help. Often, we tell ourselves things aren’t “bad enough” to reach out for professional support. However, it is not necessary to be in crisis or to have a mental health diagnosis in order to speak with a therapist or other mental health professional.

If you can relate to one or more of the bullet points above, please don’t hesitate to reach out and get the help you deserve. It can be possible to improve your mental health and enjoy your life more fully.

Counseling Help Options

There are many types of therapy and counseling, but often, they boil down to two general approaches. There are the psychodynamic approach and the behavioral approach. 

Psychodynamic therapies generally focus on the unconscious thoughts and motivations behind your behaviors. In this type of therapy, you will often talk about what you have been thinking or feeling during certain situations. Psychodynamic approaches mainly focus on the past as you and your therapist determine what has happened that may influence your thoughts, feelings, and actions in the present. This type of therapy may take place over the short term or the long term.

Meanwhile, behavioral therapies, such as CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy) usually concentrate on your present thoughts. For this counseling service, you and your therapist typically identify dysfunctional patterns in your thinking process and adjust them to be more beneficial and healthier. This type of therapy is often short-term, rather than long-term.

Within each of these overarching approaches are many more subtypes that you may find helpful.

You may also seek out therapy specifically for a particular diagnosis. For instance, if you are diagnosed with a substance use disorder, you may benefit most from substance use counseling. Or, if you are experiencing challenges in your relationship, couples counseling may be an excellent option.

It can be possible to connect with a licensed therapist locally. Your workplace, school, or religious community (if you’re a part of one) may also provide counseling services.

Online Therapy Can Make It Easy To Get Help

The thought of starting counseling or therapy, especially if you’ve never tried it before, can feel overwhelming. But online therapy can make the process of getting help much simpler. Rather than finding a local therapist, setting up an appointment, and traveling to their office, you may get help from the comfort of your home or anywhere you have a reliable internet connection. Plus, you can easily switch therapists as needed until you find one you feel comfortable with.

As this study explains, online therapy can be as effective as in-person therapy in treating a variety of mental health disorders and concerns. Although some worry that online therapy may not have the same benefits as speaking with a therapist in person, the growing body of research generally indicates that’s not the case at all, and online therapy can even come with additional advantages, such as accessibility and affordability.