Will counseling help me?

People are often curious if counseling, also called therapy, talk therapy, or psychotherapy, is helpful or will be helpful for them. Counseling can be helpful with many issues, including mental health challenges, life changes, and more. People may seek out counseling for:

• Significant life crises like death, serious illness, divorce
• Mental health challenges from anxiety to trauma
• Help to cope with life transitions like becoming a caregiver to an ill family member or preparing for the arrival of a new child or marriage.
• Support in navigating relationships
• Help with family difficulties
• Support in identify and meeting goals
• Recovery from substance abuse and addiction

Counseling helps improve communication. By its nature, therapy encourages honest discussion about distressing issues. As these issues are discussed, you can talk about difficult things and understand how things may be influencing you. Therapy can provide you with a safe space to talk openly about feelings, events, and worries that may not exist in other areas of life. A therapist can provide you with tools to help make decisions and sort through issues that friends and family may not give in an unbiased way.

Some common benefits from counseling include:

• Empowerment to make choices
• Developing new insights and understanding about your life and challenges you’re facing
• Learning coping skills
• Improving communication skills
• Improving overall wellness

Research has shown that therapy can be helpful with depression, bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and more. Counseling can also be a joint effort for couples, and family counseling can be very beneficial for families facing challenges. Group therapy can be beneficial and typically is facilitated by a licensed counselor and focuses on a specific issue like anxiety or substance abuse recovery.

Therapy can be a helpful means of expert care and support for facing a myriad of issues. It also occurs in different settings. Online therapy may enable people to meet regularly via phone, video, or text, as well as the ability to message your counselor between sessions. Counseling is also available in community mental health centers and in-office or face to face.

Therapy is a helpful part of addressing life’s challenges, mental health issues, relationship difficulties, and meeting goals you have set for your life.