Everyone experiences some symptoms of anxiety and depression in life. Everyone feels the full gambit of human emotion at differing times. That’s just life. Circumstances aren’t always what we want them to be. Hopefully we have a community of people that we can rely on when life gets hard. So how can we know we need to actually see a therapist?
A good rule of thumb is -
It’s time to see a therapist when your symptoms are prolonged and/or interrupting your life.
What does that mean?
Prolonged- experiencing symptoms for 2+ weeks.
Interrupting- preventing you from doing your Normal daily tasks.
What kind of symptoms are we looking for? This can vary from person to person, even from day to day.
Physical.
Most people start to notice increased symptoms when they begin to take physical form such as insomnia, tightness in muscles or joints, heart palpitations, panic/anxiety attacks, inability to get out of bed, tight chest, difficulty breathing, sinking feeling, fatigue or lethargy, headaches, stomach issues, excessive crying., increased substance use (including all legal substances- caffeine, alcohol, marijuana),
Mental.
Others tend to notice their cognitive (mental) symptoms such as brain fog, confusion, inability to focus, poor work or school performance, inability keep up, reduced mental capacity, poor memory or recall, difficulty in speech or communication, increased negative self talk, increased negative thoughts about others and situations, hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that are not there), ruminations, delusions (believing things that are not real), and suicidal or homicidal thoughts.
Emotional.
Some may be more acutely aware of their increase in emotions such as rapid shifts in emotions, excessive worrying or sadness (as in you can’t shake it), feelings of impending doom, increased anger and potential hostility, increase feelings of guilt or shame, inability to enjoy and/or decreased interest in hobbies, numbness and/or apathy.
Spiritual.
Often when we are experiencing prolonged emotional intensity, it reflects in our spiritual lives. We may lose interest in practicing spiritual disciplines. We may skip church or dread attending as we pull away from our community. We may feel distant from God and His people in general. We may feel that our prayers are not being heard. We may feel unloved or unwanted by God and His people.
Relational.
Lastly, we might not be aware of our mental health needs. The tricky part is, some of us have been functioning in unhealth for so long that we are unaware of how our mental health is affecting our daily lives. If you are experiencing significant or frequent relational difficulty or if someone who knows you well encourages you to talk to a therapist, it’s probably time to make that call.
If you are experiencing any one of these symptoms for over two weeks or it is preventing you from living your normal cadence of life, it’s probably time to reach out to a therapist for some support. If you are experiencing a combination of these symptoms, it would probably be good to seek counseling to see if there is an underlying issue. If you are experiencing hurdles to the way you want your life to be, counseling could help.
If you are having thoughts of suicide or homicide, please call 9-8-8. If you have a plan, go to the hospital immediately.