Online therapy has grown popular in the past few years. It is a relatively new technique where traditional therapy employs the Internet to facilitate the process and be accessible to large numbers of people who need it. Online therapy has been beneficial to those who live in remote places where no therapists are available, and the others in crowded areas where visiting a doctor on the other side of the city could take hours. Plus, being lower in cost, the new therapy means has solved the problem for those who cannot afford the expenses of traditional therapy sessions to a large extent.
On the other hand, you need to make sure that online therapy is a suitable, effective answer for your specific case and needs. The American Psychological Association, APA, states on their website that “the research hasn’t yet shown that stand-alone therapy online or via texting is effective for everyone in every situation.” It is reasonable because web therapy is still a new tool, and not enough research has been conducted to explore its different aspects and effects on various psychological issues. Therefore, in this article, we present 10 signs tell that you need an online therapist help. But first, let us stop at “online therapist” for moments.
Today, many web therapy service providers are available. You need to search carefully for a reliable service that provides access to professional online therapists. Plus, inquiring whether the therapist is licensed or not, is a necessity. If s/he is from a different state, ask if they hold a license from the state where you live. It is for your protection so that you do not waste time and money on non-professionals who promote themselves as therapists. And, if you are a licensed counselor looking for an online therapy service provider to work for, visit BetterHelp; they’re hiring.
Now let us move on to the primary point: how to know that you need an online therapist help?
If you noticed on yourself a decrease in your capability to handle normal stresses of work and life, then you may need an online therapist. Signs that manifest this state vary and can be unnoticeable at the beginning, especially if you are quite immersed in work or family duties that you do not have time to notice yourself and pay attention to new symptoms that start showing up on you. And because treating the situation at its beginning is a lot easier than letting it get more severe, it is better to seek the help of a therapist when you detect on yourself symptoms that include irritability, irrational reactions, getting so emotional from the simplest situation, and having sudden outbursts. It means you need a professional therapist to help you cope with the stress in your life effectively.
Another sign that shows you need a professional therapist is when the assistance of family and friends is no longer enough for you to deal with stress or other mental issues inside you. When this happens, it is time to seek professional support. The important thing is not to lend yourself to excuses such as the lack of free time, long work hours, being too exhausted to commit to traditional therapy sessions. Switching to online therapy will provide you with the professional help you need from the comfort of your home. Plus, determining the timing of sessions will be more flexible because online therapists could work after the regular work hours.
Highly emotional reactions and sudden outbursts are not the only manifestations of stress. It could, on the other hand, make you act like a machine, doing what you have to do at work or home without feeling emotions at all. Such a state is gradual that you may not notice it at the beginning, then you suddenly pay attention to the fact that you lost interest in everything you do. With the development of the state, emptiness, and dullness dominate your emotions.
When you find yourself experiencing continual fatigue that prevents you from working, taking care of your kids, or studying, you should consider reaching out to an online therapist. In many cases, fatigue, as a physical symptom, develops from mental issues. When you leave these issues without dealing with them, they stimulate such a general sense of fatigue.
If you are a social person who used to be into communicating with others and being involved in social and personal situations with family, friends, colleagues, etc. and suddenly started to reject and avoid others, then you probably need to pause and reflect on why you have reached this state. It could be an indicator of a psychological issue, especially if you are not feeling well or comfortable with your new situation. Some people consciously isolate themselves from others to some extent and find that beneficial for them. Yet, keep in mind that achieving a balance between this state of isolation and maintaining connections with other humans is, in most cases, a sign of mental health, unless you are a Tibetan monk who has the secrets of how to deal with complete solitude.
Almost all of us experience worries and anxious thoughts at different levels. When the space that these thoughts possess in your mind increases, that they affect the quality of your life and prevent you from sleeping, for example, then it is indeed the time to call for the professional help of a therapist.
Each of us, from time to time, goes through hard situations in career or personal life, such as job changes, breakups, and reaching to deaths of dear ones. Not all of us can deal solely with these situations, and the ability to deal with them differs from one to another. Therefore, it could be challenging to determine which of them is severe and which is not; in other words, a state which is not severe for a person could be quite hard for another. So, it is essential to continually observe yourself and reach out for a therapist when you feel unwell or losing control.
Whenever you notice that you increasingly drink alcohol, maybe smoking marijuana, or consuming drugs to calm yourself down, you need to pause and reconsider your behavior. If you noticed yourself developing a dependence on these substances to make you feel better, it is better to quit this behavior early before it turns into a habit. Seeing a therapist, traditionally or virtually, could help you do so.
Like everything else, there is a healthy use of social media, and there is also a harmful one. For example, decreasing your actual social communication with others in the real world to be on social media is not a good sign, indeed.
Another sign that you may have psychological issues is when you stop enjoying doing things that you have always loved, be they sports, or habits like reading, gardening, traveling, watching movies, inviting family and friends to home parties, etc.