Wellbeing

Talk It Out: 5 Surprising Benefits of Therapy

Did you know that between 40 and 60% of adults with mental illness receive mental health treatment each year?

The benefits of therapy cannot be overstated. Whether you are suffering from mild depression or a more severe mental illness, therapy can benefit you. 

Read on to learn more about the benefits of therapy and how to decide if it’s time to seek mental health treatment. 

1. It Can Have Long-Term Benefits

Although you might not go to therapy forever, the benefits that you get are long-lasting. Part of the therapy process is developing the tools to enable you to deal with future issues and stressful times. 

The process of talking to a therapist to talk through your problems with the therapist is internalized and shapes how you react to stress in the future. After spending time in therapy, you are more cognizant of using the techniques you learned in therapy as you talk through your issues and reflect on them. 

2. It Gives You New Perspective on Others

Not only does therapy help you understand your own thought processes and behaviors, but it also can help you understand the actions of others. We often make assumptions about others based on how we interpret their actions, and these assumptions may often be false. 

Therapy helps you understand the need to seek out others’ perspectives, talk to them about their actions, and let go of your assumptions in favor of actually asking others about their motivations behind certain behaviors. A psychologist can help you identify how to avoid these assumptions. 

3. It Can Improve Physical Health

Stress and trauma don’t just impact our mental health. Your physical health suffers as a result as well. Your cardiovascular health, gastrointestinal health, hormones, and musculoskeletal health can all be negatively impacted by stress and trauma. 

Stomachaches, headaches, extreme exhaustion or inability to sleep, ulcers, and high blood pressure are all some of the ways our body reactions to traumatic events and stress. There is evidence to suggest that therapy is an effective treatment for physical issues as well as mental health issues. 

4. It Helps You Avoid Self-Medication

Self-medicating with drugs, alcohol, or other unhealthy behaviors often happens when you experience trauma or stressful times. While self-medicating may make you feel better in the short-term, you’re not really treating the problem. You’re simply masking it so you become numb to it. 

This will catch up with you and your physical health will decline. Addictions can have serious negative impacts on your life. Therapy will help you avoid self-medication and give you a productive, healthy outlet to treat your problems.

5. You Know You’re Not Alone

Talking out your problems with someone who is attentive and doesn’t minimize is highly beneficial.

Talk therapy helps you realize that you are not alone in dealing with trauma. You may even consider joining a support group with others who have similar experiences, such as divorce or the loss of a loved one. 

How Can These Benefits of Therapy Help You?

The benefits of therapy are many. Even if you aren’t experiencing acute stress or have a traumatic experience negatively impacting your life, therapy can still help you. As more and more insurance companies are including benefits for mental health treatment, therapy is becoming more widely accessible. 

If you found this article useful, be sure to check back for new content and share it with anyone you think may benefit from therapy.

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