Do you want to feel less stressed out? Do you want to regain some emotional balance?
Do you want to have better relationships with your peers and with yourself?
These are all things that can be improved through counseling.
Hi, I'm Patricia and I specialize in psychotherapy for young adults, adolescents, and teens.
I focus primarily on issues of anxiety stress related disorders and depression.
There is absolutely no shame in going to therapy.
In fact, I've been in therapy since I was 8
years old and I know I'm not alone.
I go to therapy.
I've never been to therapy, but I kind of want to go.
African-Americans and Hispanic Americans use mental health services at one half the rate
of Caucasian Americans.
I'm still on the fence and I've always wondered, do you only seek therapy if you've endured
a trauma?
And I don't necessarily have any of those things so I'm wondering if a therapist
is the right avenue for me.
There's this common misconception that you have to have a disorder or a mental illness
to go see a therapist. That's not true at all. Plenty of people just want unbiased, unfiltered
advice from a professional.
I go to therapy because it's the perfect time for me to really dive in to what's going on
in my mind and just having kind of that neutral party that I'm able to talk to every other week.
For me the best thing about therapy has just been the relationship.
I really trust her.
And being able to trust somebody who I see once a week. It's just been incredible for me.
I've had really bad anxiety and OCD since I was 4 or 5.
I have pretty frequent anxiety. I take medication for it.
The good news about anxiety is that it is highly treatable.
Getting a diagnosis of something is really important because you can think that you have
something you can self medicate or self prescribe. It didn't feel real until someone told me.
I've worried if I have anxiety but I've been told that I'm just a bit neurotic and that
it's just a symptom of being a well-bred Jew.
Many people that I work with have had complicated or difficult childhoods and they want to rehash
kind of the family dynamics so they can move forward in their life and you know kind of
start new.
I remember being in a session with a therapist I was seeing back when I lived at home, where
she said you can't pick your parents. And that was probably one of the dopest things
anyone has ever said, let alone a therapist.
I always felt kind of like the black sheep
and my therapist basically made me realize that just because you don't have the same
relationship with your family that your friend might have with hers doesn't mean that you're
in any way flawed.
I think that many people still believe the only people that go to therapy are people
that are "crazy" and that are potentially institutionalized, when the truth is the bulk
of people that really do seek out treatment are high functioning young adults.
I think it's one of those things that if you're like oh we'll I'm going to therapy.
People are like, "Oh shoot. Something's wrong with Katie. Oh she must be going crazy."
You truly don't have to have a psychiatric disorder to get help.
It's really not a big deal at all. You're just sitting down with someone and you're
just talking about X, Y, and Z. Like, "Hey this is what happened this week at work.
This is what's been bothering me."
When, say I first started practicing, say 20 years ago, I would have clients that would
only come on Saturday because they didn't want anybody to see them walking into the
office. Nowadays middle schoolers, teenagers, they'll come to me and they'll say, "well my
friend's therapist says this. What do you think?" You know, so it is becoming less of a stigma.
I'm radically open about going to therapy.
Oh I talk about it all the time.
I begin every sentence with "my therapist says."
It's not something that I'm ashamed of and it's
definitely not something I hide.
Finding the right therapist can be a process sometimes, so don't give up if you don't like
your first therapist you visit.
Find someone that you connect with and that you feel comfortable
being honest with.
If you're not feeling helped or supported, seek help elsewhere.
The therapist I saw in high school actually I think that she was violating her professional ethics
She was a friend of my mom so she was on my mom's side with everything.
I would complain about something my mom would do and she'd be like, "No I know your mom. She would
never do something like that." Really just not helpful and I definitely support trying
to see a therapist who works for you.
If you are interested and want to go to therapy I would say talk to a parent or an adult that
you trust. If you live far away and/or don't have that kind of relationship with some of
the adults in your life. I would speak to your school counselor. Also I would speak
to your primary care physician.
If you need help. There are people you can ask for it and you definitely shouldn't feel
afraid to do that.
What I love about being a therapist is that the world is filled with a lot of interesting
people with wonderful stories and to be a part of helping someone to, you know, reach
their dreams and potential is an absolute gift.
Self care is of the utmost importance. So if you feel like you should go see a therapist
then don't be afraid to speak out and seek help.
See ya next time.