Dealing With Minor Mental Health Issues That Feel Major, Just Some Of The Time

Some mental health issues are outright debilitating, and very obvious to diagnose. Others, though, affect a person seemingly only some of the time and under certain circumstances. That doesn't mean you wouldn't benefit from counseling and it also doesn't mean you shouldn't seek treatment, because you only feel incapable of dealing with life on your own just some of the time.

Stress Exacerbates Everything

Even people who are highly successful, in complete control of themselves and their lives, and considered to be perfectly "normal" suffer the consequences of persistent stress. In fact, stress can leave anyone with strange and overwhelming symptoms, such as anxiety, obsessive tendencies, irrationality, and depression. If you're seriously stressed out, it's "normal" to feel a little anxious, but when the feelings start to interfere with your ability to lead a satisfying and productive life, you should talk to a counselor. They can teach you stress-management techniques, along with helping you sort of the effect stress has on your perception, thinking, and behavior.

Certain Triggers Blow Things out of Proportion

Triggers in ordinary life, like the threat of losing your job or someone otherwise bringing harm or chaos to your life, can lead to all sorts of uncomfortable results. They induce fear (an extreme stressor), self-doubt, and worry, but may also remind you of something very unpleasant in your past. Exposure to such triggers can easily make you feel mentally unstable, because they threaten your emotional core and stability in life. Dealing with them, particularly over a period of time, makes it hard to maintain your mental health. Counseling, be it directly for the post-traumatic stress associated with the trigger(s) or simply to unburden yourself from the pressure, is a timely and effective treatment and there's no reason you can't call upon it at certain times in your life. Learning to control your emotional response to triggers means feeling stronger and being in control of yourself and that's something everyone need.

Your Past Can Definitely Come Back To Haunt You

Years after a disturbing event, such as childhood abuse, including bullying from any source, you can still feel the emotional injuries. Your abuse didn't have to be severe, sexual or something that everyone knew about, to have a lasting and profound effect on you. Therapy resolves past issues, putting them in their place, which is your history. Counseling guides you to control the gnawing thoughts and shaky emotions that may otherwise lead you to feel and act unwell now.

You Are, After All, Only Human

If you've never experienced any form of abuse, never been diagnosed with any particular mental health issue or even never thought of yourself in that light, you still face the challenges of going through rough times in life that cause you to feel a loss of control and an emotional stranglehold. If you don't feel well or happy, if you don't feel in control of your past or future due to the issues you're dealing with, reaching out really helps. There are no labels or judgments; there's only a path back to your strong and capable self.

It's almost harder to deal with a mild, occasionally intrusive mental health issue, because you don't appear to have anything outright wrong with you. Everyone, including yourself, and probably your physician, think you're just fine and maybe you are; however, that doesn't mean that certain situations won't be more difficult than others or that sometimes you need a little help to get through. Foregoing mental health counseling at different times in life when you really need it is denying yourself the opportunity to feel fully whole, fully well and fully in control, and that would be fully wrong.