Why I Praise Therapy To All My Friends -- But Won’t Go Myself
I’m ashamed to say that I don’t go to therapy.
It’s not that I don’t need it. I have a history of obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression. I know this because I went to a therapist who diagnosed me six years ago in college after I came back from my study abroad. I returned home with a depression so deep I couldn’t get out of bed. But after getting my eight free sessions ― and an antidepressant prescription that I would wean off of one year later ― I never set foot in a therapist’s office again.
The thing is, I loved therapy. It worked wonders for me in that short amount of time. I bawled my eyes out in the first session. I learned my full diagnosis by the fourth meeting and was prescribed drugs by the last, which immediately made me feel better.
Ever since, I’ve been touting the benefits to everyone I know. I talk openly about my mental health issues. Several friends have even asked me for therapist recommendations.
And when my best friend was having a rough time ― and proceeded to go to a few sessions, only to quit the moment she felt better ― I pushed hard for her to stick with it.
“Therapy is not just for when you’re low,” I told her. “It works best over time.”
But I don’t even take my own advice.
Two years after my first experience with depression, I fell back into a deep one while working abroad after graduation. I was sobbing on my bed daily, telling my dad over...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
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