#1 Taking the first step
A lot of people feel that they need to protect the people around them, their family and friends. They can't bare the idea that other people may get upset because you are struggling. This idea can be heartbreaking but the fact is that by seeking help and support from professionals, you are taking the first step to getting back on track to becoming the person that you want to be.
#2 Your Problems Do Warrant Asking For Help
A lot of people feel as though their problems might not be bad enough to justify reaching out for help. They feel as though they need to wait until things get really bad before they reach out for support. I think this comes from a lack of open conversations about why people go to therapy, particularly amongst men. So, as soon as you feel as though things aren't right, you are using your coping strategies but they are not working, or you are not feeling yourself, I think that is a good time to start having a good conversation about how you are feeling.
#3 Not Knowing if Other People will Understand Us
Concern about reaching out for help with mental health can often come from not knowing if people will understand out concerns and not knowing how to articulate how you are feeling. Given that 80% of communication is non-verbal, the chances are that people close to you already know somethings not right. Professionals are trained to help with this, so we need to learn to understand the network around us and the professionals we reach out to.
#4 Understanding Psychological Therapy
A lot of people believe that psychological therapies are talking about your problems in the hope that they go away, when in fact they are evidence based therapies that work by identifying the difficulty that you are now facing, setting goals that work for you, and working collaboratively to get there.
#5 The Mindset you might need to Adopt on your Journey to Recovery
People often expect to feel better as soon as they open up to a friend or a professional. The fact is, that these things take time and work. It's like pulling up the roots of a plant and expecting them to grow every day. Change takes time.