When to Seek Therapy
Transitions
Clients often turn to therapy when they are in a time of transition. This can be clearly marked as when a relationship or job has come to an end. However, the call to transition can also be more subtle when a sense of restlessness and discontent may be indications that an old way of being has outlived its suitability to your development. Finding the courage and the creativity to form a new understanding of yourself and your relationships to the world is demanding at any time, but especially in times when what was once secure is no longer so.
Emotional Pain
Persistent emotional pain is one of the clearest signs that you can benefit from therapy. It may show up as a mood of despair, irritation, guilt, rage or numbness, or as anxiety, sleep disturbances, or repetitive relationship problems that don’t resolve. You may work and eat compulsively or may have lost your appetite or your concentration and interest in activities that you formerly cared about. You may feel your only choice is to numb the pain since you don’t know what needs to change.
Chronic Illness
Beyond emotional pain, a chronic illness or physical condition also demands a large reorientation of your basic “story” to make a new understanding large enough to include all the needs of your aliveness in a time when healing must be given priority.
Addiction and Compulsions
Whatever form your pain may take, it is difficult to respond to it as a call for change. We try to distract ourselves with busyness, substances, addictive behaviors, and casting blame on the people and situations of our life. Making behavioral shifts is not enough. One needs as well to uncover the unconscious roots of the addiction, and find a way to self-regulate and heal the wounds that led to self medication.
"Spiritual" Growth and Direction
Therapy can also be valuable when there is no obvious pain but when you feel stagnant and unconnected to anything larger than yourself. By “Spiritual” I don’t mean necessarily a belief in a divinity or a particular religion. I mean how you relate to the Big Picture which can be via a belief in scientific research. Transpersonal Therapy is especially suited to help you regain a sense of belonging to Life Itself.