Why Everyone Needs Counseling Therapy

Many adults can use a simple counseling session to figure out something complex in their lives and may not need long-term therapy. Many still may want to look at self-improvement. Counseling and therapy can be mean to any number of ends, and the question of counseling vs. therapy depends on need. You may want to kick start that new career move; you may have financial worries and struggle with a personal project.

Through Skype counseling therapy, anyone can quickly study their mind with a counselor or therapist’s help. Perhaps you are worried about moving to a new location or need some advice on a rough patch in your relationship. The purpose of therapy and counseling is to improve your life direction, not to make you feel ashamed for being you.

Everyone needs counseling therapy because it is a tool in your toolbox, a means of understanding yourself. There is a stigma surrounding therapy, the idea that you aren’t strong enough to do it on your own. On the contrary, seeking therapy means you are strong enough to ask for help. We aren’t born with all the answers. Whether with a diagnosed mental illness or not, everyone can use the tool of self-knowledge.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, social workers, including Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW), have projected job growth of 16% into 2026, from 2016. This broad category includes mental health counselors, substance use counselors, child welfare workers, school counselors, and more. The number of Americans seeking therapy steadily increases. Anxiety and Depression Association of America shows that anxiety disorder affects 18% of the adult population and 25% of children between 13-18. Many disorders go undiagnosed, and anxiety disorder is one of many. Above and beyond the need to diagnose and treat the disorder, many behavioral problems and uncomfortable social situations continue to be ignored by adults.

Counseling Vs. Therapy

The word “counseling” and the word “therapy” are oft used interchangeably to refer to the same or similar activities. They will refer to gathering in a group or pair to administer talk therapy to one or more patients. However, these words have a distinct separation. Counseling focuses on short-term goals and includes advice-seeking. It will look at the patient’s current anxieties and worries and seek to guide them on a healthy path to success. Counselors are always licensed and may themselves be Doctors. Often Psychology Doctors will put in hours as a first-step counselor in a location such as a school.

Therapy focuses on long-term growth and addresses dysfunctional thinking and behavioral modification. It will involve talk therapy and may involve a formal diagnosis of mental illness, be that permanent or temporary. It will often begin with clearly stated therapy goals, and sessions will seek to establish cause and effect for behaviors and thinking. 

There are benefits and drawbacks to both counseling and therapy. Therefore, the question of counseling vs. therapy is not of which one is better but which is appropriate for your need. Through Skype Counseling Therapy, you can determine what needs you have and which suits you best and can receive a range of services. Talk therapy, behavioral treatments, and formal referrals to in-person specialists are all possible with this service.

What Is Counseling?

We swim against a strong current through a sea of aggressive stimuli, demanding our attention. Even before the development of social media and the internet, society has always needed counseling. The complexity of everyday living will always produce questions with answers that aren’t immediately obvious. Therapy and counseling are important parts of society, and they both have their merits and drawbacks. Counseling has its place in workplace counselors’ employment in schools as guidance counselors and informal settings. Counseling is an appropriate first step when one has not been to therapy and suspected there are deeper issues. It can be used to recommend a therapist, or often the counselor can perform more long-term therapy depending on need.

The benefit of counseling is that it requires little commitment, is short-term, and can be low-impact. One also need not worry about the prescription of treatments and medication in this instance. Counseling is used to talk out issues and, often, patients can arrive at their healthy conclusions with a little introspection. When counseling doesn’t work, then long-term therapy may be recommended. The drawback of counseling is that said low commitment may lead to a patient’s lack of retainment. The patient-counselor relationship is of utmost importance to effective mental health treatment, and in sessions designed for short-term exploration, that relationship may not be as deep.

Why Therapy?

We are the product of so much more than our immediate experiences. Every second of your life leading up to this point has informed everything about you, both physical and mental. Choices you make, choices made for you, and the choices of those around you all come together to make up who you are. The layers of self-care like an onion, and as you peel one layer, you find so many more to explore. If you stay on the outside, exploring the cause-and-effect of yesterday and tomorrow only, you won’t know yourself on a deeply personal level. If you dig too deep too fast, your onion will have a gaping hole in it, and you won’t be too familiar with any single layer.

Therefore, therapy may be necessary. Deep-seated personality traits and mental illness that continually interfere with your life need nuanced and thorough understanding. Therapy is a discipline that seeks to, through careful examination, first understand the patient. When using Skype Counseling Therapy and in need of long-term solutions, your therapist will commit to developing a full client relationship with you. The hallmark of mental illness is that it tries to interfere with self-growth, and so the drawback is in the commitment. If a patient commits to treatment with a therapist that doesn’t work out for them, they may feel they’ve wasted their time. It is vital to match the right therapist and speak out if current therapy doesn’t seem to work.

Understanding Ourselves

The brain is a big, complex organ – the most complex in the human body, more complex than any computer and behaving in similar ways. It is capable of thousands of processes per second and making arbitrary and unpredictable connections. Every new experience, every touch, every new thought creates a brand new mental connection. This process of creating new connections is the fastest and most intense in childhood, and therefore childhood experiences are so impactful on personality. According to an article published in Scientific American, changing one’s mind involves complex coordination between multiple structures within the brain. It is this difficulty that leads to a difficulty to change.

Necessary to everyday function – to get out of bed, brushing your teeth, going to work, talking to friends – is how we process. Every social interaction, every bad fight, every pleasurable experience, they’re all a part of the tapestry of our personalities. Athletes use habit to train themselves to push further and further, students are training in their chosen field, and you are training your brain.

Don’t Wait To Seek Help

The brain is like a muscle: it can be trained and exercised, and through this process, grow stronger at certain tasks. The inverse is also true: when skills, thoughts, mental exercises are not used frequently, the brain’s ability to process them begins to “atrophy.” It is important to understand yourself, no matter what stage of life and mental health you are at. Whether you have been diagnosed with or are experiencing mental illness symptoms or have short-term worries or improvements you’d like to make, you can’t expect to have all the answers. Your every choice is a change you input into that art piece, a collaboration with yourself. How you currently are, how you behave tomorrow and the next day, that is the person you continue to become more of.

It is hard, however, to match with the right therapist. MyTherapist is for psychotherapists to perform their counseling and therapy services online. It is also a matching service for patients to match up with the right online counselor or therapist. Using the form on the pre-match page, you will answer a 15-20-minute questionnaire that will form a baseline of who you are and what you are dealing with. It is not meant to be a diagnostic tool, but it will be used to match you with a therapist whose skill set and experiences are copacetic with your needs. It is important to seek help when you need it, even if you don’t think anything is wrong with you – try it today!