Therapy? Me!? Am I crazy, or…?

You don’t like to think about starting therapy. It means making time and it may mean spending money. If you are like most people, you are afraid that if you start therapy it suggests that you are crazy. You know it doesn’t necessarily mean that, however, you worry that someone you know might see you ducking into some therapy clinic doorway and will think that you are bonkers. Even you may tell yourself that you “need” therapy and then you don’t want to go even more! So, next you reassure yourself with the thought: “I am no crazier then so-and-so (and you name someone you know that is half-friend and half-enemy) and you worry that everyone thinks you are just “different” somehow. Now you have talked yourself out of therapy until the next time you go through the same cycle of self-doubt.  

Well, let me help you reframe how you think about this. I propose you ask yourself three questions and let your answers simmer for a while as your guide.

1) Am I content?

2) Do I feel fulfilled?

3) And I using my potential in my work and in my relationships?

Notice, I am not focusing on symptoms at the moment. I am not asking if you are feeling very down or nervous. I want to emphasize that symptoms are important and if you feel very down and/or anxious you can benefit from therapy and should see your doctor, because you deserve the relief that is possible for you.

However, my point is that symptoms signal that something is going on for you, and what is going on probably has to do with the quality of your life and how you feel about you. That’s why I call it being: “Under the Emotional Weather.” I am not talking about your skills, or abilities, or even your interests.

It’s about whether you feel you are being all you can be, if you feel loved and liked, and if you feel both good being responsible, and also free in being who you are.

Susan Barbour, Ed.D., Psychologist
Dynamic Psychotherapy Associates, LLC
827 N. Cass St.
Milwaukee, WI  53202
Phone: 414-368-0460