When to seek help
People seek counselling for all sorts of reasons. You don’t have to be “crazy” to get counselling and certainly it doesn’t mean you are “crazy” if you do get counselling. Just because someone is in counselling doesnt mean they have a diagnosable mental illness; it could just mean they are seeking help for a mental health concern. If someone does have a diagnosable mental illness, it does not mean that they are bad, or incompentant, mentally impaired or incapable. It is simply an illness they should seek treatment for, just any other illness.
Signs that someone should seek help:
- You’ve lost someone or something important to you
- Feeling sad, angry, or otherwise “not yourself”
- Abusing drugs, alcohol, food, or sex to cope
- Something traumatic has happened
- You can’t do the things you like to do
- Marked changes in personality, eating or sleeping patterns
- An inability to cope with problems or daily activities
- Feeling of disconnection or withdrawal from normal activities
- Unusual or “magical” thinking
- Excessive anxiety
- Prolonged sadness, depression or apathy
- Thoughts or statements about suicide or harming others
- Extreme mood swings
- Excessive anger, hostility or violent behaviour