What is a psychologist, and when can you reach out to one?
Probably, each of us strives to be happy, healthy, loved, and self-actualized. But everyday life is also inseparable from worries, difficulties, triggers, or sometimes crises. Our psychologist Greta Liškauskaitė explains who a psychologist is and when to contact an emotional health specialist.
When to contact a psychologist?
What do we call a crisis? It can be our inner world’s conflicts or external events, such as job loss, loss of a loved one, divorce, etc. Each of us reacts to such situations very differently – sometimes, we can surprise ourselves or those around us with our changed behavior and moods.
When we face difficult times, we use strategies that we know could help us. It can be a conversation with a loved one or a walk in the forest. These choices are healthy and constructive ways to deal with the problem. However, sometimes we try methods we know but see they do not provide relief or the result we would like to achieve.
Perhaps depressed moods are still present, or it becomes difficult to concentrate, work, and enjoy life’s pleasures. Perhaps you feel unheard or misunderstood in conversations with your loved ones, or maybe you are given various pieces of advice that unfortunately don’t help. In this case, you can contact a mental health specialist, such as a psychologist.
What do psychologists do?
One part of the scope of a psychologist’s practice is individual psychological counseling. People often have various questions before meeting with a psychologist: what will I need to do? Do I need to prepare in any way? Usually, individual consultations with a psychologist are simply conversations, so there is no need to bring a prepared script to such consultations. Most of the time, things, problems, and topics that are important to you come up naturally in the conversation. After all, people usually come led by some specific difficulty that prompted them to seek consultations.
The essence of psychological counseling is improving emotional health
Of course, one should not get the wrong impression that a consultation with a psychologist is a simple conversation that anyone can provide. Psychologists have the necessary knowledge about human development, the psyche, and the skills to help people open up and feel accepted and heard. The majority of specialists constantly improve their skills, deepen their knowledge in seminars, and conferences, raise their qualifications in psychotherapy training programs, etc.
The aim of working with the psychologist:
To discover and experience hidden feelings together in a safe place
Looking for a way out of the problems that have arisen
To delve into the uniqueness of the personality, strengths, and qualities to be fostered
The essence of any psychological consultation is to improve a person’s emotional health, increase self-confidence, and help look to the future with hope and positivity.
So the answer to the question of when you can reach out to a psychologist is simple: anyone who wants to improve their mental well-being, get to know their personality better, or look for a way out of the difficulties they are experiencing – can turn to one.
And remember that going to psychological counseling does not mean you must have any mental disorders. On the contrary, you are looking for constructive solutions to the problems that have arisen, and you dare to ask for help when needed.
Want to learn more about mental health and emotional well-being? Reach out to our team and get a free consultation now.