Does something bad need to happen to me in order to seek therapy?

Dear Nini,

You have asked a really good question. 

No in my professional opinion, it does not take something bad happen in order for a person to seek and benefit from therapy.

Often times a person is going through some sort of adjustment period to a change. These symptoms may be more transient and not reach the severity level that would give someone a diagnosis like Major Depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The perfect time to intervene is early. In fact, many times people have resilience and resources in their lives that help them to heal and return to their normal baseline mood and functioning on their own without therapy as an intervention. It is important to recognize warning signs and it can't hurt a person to talk over changes in their life, even planning for the future like career or education goals or pre-marital counseling when there is nothing major "wrong" in their life. Often when people under go stress or change, they may suffer from what we call an adjustment disorder. This may be in a relationship, their career, education, family, or relationships. It is actually a very wise idea to see assistance early before symptoms worsen. I would compare it to having a dental check up. We don't want to  wait until a tooth is throbbing to go, rather we can have a check-up and use preventive measures to make us stronger and healthy.

You mentioned that you haven't been feeling like yourself and it is impacting your relationships. That is a good time to speak with a professional who can help you reflect on your thoughts and responses to your environment. Perhaps you need a change in your environment or in your beliefs.

You have mentioned that  there is no glaring traumatic (Bad) event "Something bad" happening like a natural disaster, a death of a loved one, or a violent act against someone is that we call Big T trauma. There are little t traumas that we might not notice, such as our feeling being minimized by others or being criticized or bullied.

Speaking to a therapist might help you to feel more like yourself again and improve communications skills, self confidence, or your relationships. Additionally, some people come to therapy with a short term goal in mind and can work through an identified problem or get a consultation and a few questions answered and feel better about it.