The Life Changing Benefits of Psychotherapy

If you’re going through something difficult in your life, there are several ways to find the help that you need.

The first step is knowing that you’re not alone. There are people out there that care about your mental health. Avenues such as psychotherapy allow you to seek the help you need with trained professionals. 

Working with a psychotherapist in a non-judgmental atmosphere where you can talk out your stress and frustration, is more beneficial than keeping it to yourself or bottling it up inside. So, what are the benefits of psychotherapy?

Here are several advantages to receiving the help that you need through talk therapy. If you’re looking for someone to talk to, it can be a tremendous asset.

1. Improves Your Overall Health

Everyone knows that stress and frustration can be a detriment to your mental health. But not many people realize the physical toll that it causes to your body as well.

If your stress continues to build, it can lead to severe health conditions later in life.

Studies have shown stress to be connected to issues such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, gastrointestinal (digestive) disorders, and much more.

Psychotherapy can help you find different ways to not only talk through your ongoing stress but find better practices for handling them in your everyday life.

2. Helps Relationship Building

When people go through things such as depression or high levels of anxiety, the aspect of their life that can experience the biggest impact is their relationships with others.

They start to become a recluse and push themselves further and further away from others. This could be because they don’t think others will understand or that they feel that they’re a burden to other people, etc.

Whatever negative perceptions you may be having of others, they are likely not true. Your friends and family want to be there for you and help you through this.

Psychotherapy can be a tremendous asset for things such as family therapy and marriage counselling.

If you’ve noticed that you and your spouse (or other family members) have started to distance themselves, talk therapy can start to rebuild those stressed bonds.

You can talk through certain frustrations that you’ve had in a space where the therapist or counselor can be a conversational guide. They can have as much or as little involvement in communication as you’d like.

More importantly, they will challenge you and can have a significant impact on improving strained relationships. In fact research in controlled studies have shown high levels of marital satisfaction after 6 months of marriage counselling (Marital satisfaction score >90, Gottman Method).

3. Navigates Your Trauma

There isn’t just one definition or form that trauma can take in your life. Maybe you’ve had a loved one pass away and it caught you by surprise. Perhaps you’ve moved to a new location and are feeling significant mental struggles with it.

Whatever the case might be, trauma needs to be dealt with in order to help you improve your mental health.

Moving past the trauma may not be something that you can handle on your own. If you try to revisit the trauma by yourself, you’ll likely end up thinking about the worst portion(s) of the event.

With psychotherapy, you can talk through the trauma in the presence of an open ear. It can make a huge difference to process the thoughts and feelings surrounding the traumatic event with a psychotherapist.

From there, your therapist can help you integrate different exercises and thought processes to overcome the past.  EMDR therapy can be utilized to help re-process some of the traumas and help you move past them.

Remember, your trauma doesn’t define you unless you let it do so. A counselor can help you through every step of the recovery process and on to a brighter future.

4. Confront Anxiety

Anxiety brings difficulties in everyone’s life at some point. Every person struggles with it in some fashion, some more than others.

Those that suffer from anxiety the most can have it bring them to a point of hesitation in everything they do. Your entire life might be compromised by the fear of an unknown or undesirable outcome.

Those with higher levels of anxiety can, as a result, place their life on pause with no clear path forward to help them manage their thoughts and fears. 

By seeing a psychotherapist, you’ll be able to find ways of managing both rational and irrational fears. They can talk you through solutions and dive into the root of the problem, rather than relying on band-aid or diversionary tactics to get through your day.

You’re not the only one that’s battling anxiety, you can get the help that you need. If you are struggling with anxiety, find a therapist to help address the root of the issue and talk you through it..

5. Support for Any Situation

Truth be told, everyone can benefit from having regular conversations with a psychotherapist / counselor. 

No matter what you’re going through, it helps to speak your frustrations and emotions out loud, rather than keeping them inside and continuing to dwell on them.

Psychotherapy is a tremendous asset for life issues such as ongoing pregnancies, getting in a car accident, going through a divorce, moving churches, losing a loved one, etc.

Whatever your need is, counseling can help you find peace. It will give you different viewpoints to consider and healthy exercises for your different emotions.

Psychotherapy can also be used as a preventative measure for your mental health. If your family has a history of depression, seeking help now can help you assess prior life traumas and prevent them from having a major impact on your mental health. To understand better what depression looks like explore our depression counselling page or our recent list of the most realistic depictions of depression in tv and film.

Explore the Benefits of Psychotherapy in Kitchener Waterloo Area Today!

Now that you’ve seen a few of the biggest benefits of psychotherapy, it’s time to surround yourself with the help that you need.

Do you find it difficult to share your feelings? Be sure to read this article on why it’s so hard to share how you feel.

If you’re interested in Psychotherapy and/or counselling in the Kitchener, Waterloo or Cambridge area contact us today at Trillium Counselling for a consultation or to book an appointment!