How Common Is Therapy And Why

Realizing It’s Okay To Ask For Help We’ve all been in a situation in which we needed help. Despite that, many people feel some sort of discomfort when they have to ask for assistance, be it for something personal, in a work environment, or even just to ask for directions.

This phenomenon led to a stigma surrounding mental health and therapy, which has proven to be detrimental for most people and their mental wellbeing. However, in recent years there’s been a shift in the way we perceive therapy entirely. More and more people are starting to understand that it’s never a bad idea to take care of yourself and ask for help when you need to. With this in mind, here is how common therapy has gotten in the last few years and why.

The Numbers

One in four people in the world experiences at least one diagnosable health problem throughout their life, and roughly one in every eight receives some sort of mental health treatment. This number is almost double compared to that from ten years ago, which is a positive fact considering that around the same number of people have had mental issues then and now.

Depression has been the leading mental diagnosis for the last few years, with it affecting roughly 11% of the population, or around 792 million people. Here is where we should mention one very important thing about mental health: around half of all lifetime illnesses start by the age of 14 and 75% by the age of 24.

Although this might sound scary at first, we can use this knowledge to our advantage by being more mindful of this age group and taking care of their mental health in the very beginning. A positive statistic concerning this statement is that younger people are much more likely to seek help actively. The number of people under the age of 35 that are not only okay with getting mental health care but are intently searching for it is way higher than that of older generations, and this is definitely a step in the right direction.

The Reasons

Most people start this journey because of something specific – either an event or newly formed feelings or thoughts. Although they might not be able to explain exactly how this is affecting them, they realize that something has changed and have decided to seek help.

Another reason why people go to therapy is to get advice on self-discovery or personal relationships. This is connected with the fact that it’s always helpful to have an objective and well-informed opinion on something that troubles you, especially if you’re unsure how to fix the problem yourself. Others start going to a psychologist because they’ve noticed their health is getting worse with seemingly no reason – maybe they’re having trouble sleeping or feel out of breath, perhaps their immune system is down, and they feel stressed all the time.

Whatever it is, they’ve noticed something is up with the way their body usually is and want to understand why this is happening.

However, not all inciting reasons are negative.

Some people start going to therapy to become the best version of themselves and become more confident – they see going to a psychologist as a boost to their lives in the direction they’re aiming for.

Take-Home Message

Regardless of the specific occasion people go to therapy for, they have shared that taking care of themselves in this way has had a positive effect on some aspects of their life and their future. Despite the different reasons and outcomes, therapy is a good idea for most people because it is strictly individual and, as such, can help with pretty much anything.

It has become a common part of the lives of more and more people that want to change themselves for the better and understand the world and their place in it.

Do YOU go to therapy? Share your experience below!