When to Seek Help?

The need to seek help is a difficult realisation and yet a most crucial step towards gaining full control of your wellness. In today’s day and age, where about 1 in 5 people are prone to suffering from mental health related issues, it is important to identify the signs of certain common conditions in oneself and the ones close to us. A recent statistic shows that 50% of the mental illnesses occur by the age of 14, and 75% by the age of 24. It becomes essential to make the effort to understand the people around us a tad better through the perspective of psychology in order to prioritise their mental health over other things.

There is no easy test that can help self-diagnose a person with mental illness or help them differentiate between a casual imbalance and a symptom from a specific condition. However, there are some general signs that should be looked out for and presented before a qualified therapist in order to keep in check one’s mental health. Here, we will discussing a few of these.

• Uncontrolled Thoughts: This is the most common symptom of many mental health disorders. If you feel that an uncontrolled string of thoughts is overtaking your day-to-day life, in a way that negatively affects your work-life balance and ability to do otherwise normal tasks, it might be a good reason to seek therapy. These ideas can often disturb sleeping and eating patterns, and create a difficult environment for a person to grow and improve.
• Emotional Struggle: It can happen that important incidents can throw one’s life off track, like losing a loved one, going through a tough break-up or a separation. It is only normal to require assistance in dealing with events of such emotional intensity and therapy becomes a great alternative for anybody who is not feeling completely safe and at ease with themselves in such times. Being emotionally distraught in the aftermath of such an incident can also trigger other symptoms like a reduced or increased appetite and sleep schedule.
• General Uncertainty: Many times this confusion and imbalance is not triggered by a specific event, but the general pattern of life itself. Anxiety about the future, growing up, and other such general phenomena, is a common example of such signs. This is especially found in young adults on the verge of making major decisions that decide the course of their lives. It can be a pressurising period for them and it is perfectly normal to seek help in traversing such times.
• Hopelessness: Perhaps the most serious and urgent symptom of mental illness is perpetual hopelessness. This affects a person’s morale to achieve basic tasks in the day and negatively impacts their relationships at work as well as in their personal lives. Talking to a specialist about what bothers you can be extremely beneficial in situations like this, whereas not reaching out might result in exacerbated signs or suicidal tendencies.
• Addiction: Addiction has been rightfully tagged a disease which slowly slips out of the control of a person’s consciousness. There are specially qualified therapists available to tackle this very problem. Addiction to narcotics, alcohol and various other substances and activities, are harmful to the person suffering and the people around them, especially their families and friends. There are rehabilitation centres and weekly support meetings to help one cope with recovery in cases of addiction.
• Abuse: Abuse and trauma are also pretty high up in the priority list for the requirement of therapy. Abuse in any form, physical or emotional, can leave deep scars on a person’s psyche, making them vulnerable to certain triggers which can snowball into affecting their lives. Therapy can help one come out of this shell and it also allows one to properly deal with it without projecting it on others.

Mental Health is a valuable resource which should be well looked after and checked up on from time to time. The misconception that therapy is a last resort for people with disorders is ignorant and harmful. Seeking help will only make a person stronger and better aware of what their well-being requires.

Amigo connects you with verified therapists on one-on-one video calls at highly affordable rates. We are also working on developing solutions that transform how mental health care functions across the subcontinent. You can book sessions with just 3 simple steps and connect with experts from the comfort of your home.