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Signs you need therapy


SAMHSA’s National Helpline | SAMHSA

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  • SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.

    Also visit the online treatment locator.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations.

Also visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message: 435748 (HELP4U) to find help near you. Read more about the HELP4U text messaging service.

The service is open 24/7, 365 days a year.

English and Spanish are available if you select the option to speak with a national representative. Currently, the 435748 (HELP4U) text messaging service is only available in English.

In 2020, the Helpline received 833,598 calls. This is a 27 percent increase from 2019, when the Helpline received a total of 656,953 calls for the year.

The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, we will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. In addition, we can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities.

The service is confidential. We will not ask you for any personal information. We may ask for your zip code or other pertinent geographic information in order to track calls being routed to other offices or to accurately identify the local resources appropriate to your needs.

No, we do not provide counseling. Trained information specialists answer calls, transfer callers to state services or other appropriate intake centers in their states, and connect them with local assistance and support.

  • Suggested Resources

    What Is Substance Abuse Treatment? A Booklet for Families
    Created for family members of people with alcohol abuse or drug abuse problems. Answers questions about substance abuse, its symptoms, different types of treatment, and recovery. Addresses concerns of children of parents with substance use/abuse problems.

    It's Not Your Fault (NACoA) (PDF | 12 KB)
    Assures teens with parents who abuse alcohol or drugs that, "It's not your fault!" and that they are not alone. Encourages teens to seek emotional support from other adults, school counselors, and youth support groups such as Alateen, and provides a resource list.

    After an Attempt: A Guide for Taking Care of Your Family Member After Treatment in the Emergency Department
    Aids family members in coping with the aftermath of a relative's suicide attempt. Describes the emergency department treatment process, lists questions to ask about follow-up treatment, and describes how to reduce risk and ensure safety at home.

    Family Therapy Can Help: For People in Recovery From Mental Illness or Addiction
    Explores the role of family therapy in recovery from mental illness or substance abuse. Explains how family therapy sessions are run and who conducts them, describes a typical session, and provides information on its effectiveness in recovery.

    For additional resources, please visit the SAMHSA Store.

Last Updated: 08/30/2022

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And we will cure you. 20 signs that you need to see a therapist | Psychology of life | Health

Are you annoyed by others, do you suffer from insomnia or are you unable to overcome a sudden apathy? Sometimes you can cope with such temporary difficulties on your own or with the help of a psychologist. But what if a week, a month, half a year passes, but it doesn’t get better? You may have to use the "heavy artillery" in the form of a psychotherapist. This is a psychiatrist who has completed an additional specialization in psychotherapy. How to understand that you need just such a specialist, tells Maria Merkulova .

Sign No. 1. Dramatically changed lifestyle and daily routine . Such metamorphoses are noticed not only by you, but also by relatives, friends, neighbors. For example, you were very active, led a healthy lifestyle, talked a lot with people and suddenly became withdrawn, do not leave the house, it does not matter to you what to eat and wear, etc. There may be another transformation: a person was balanced, but became explosive and almost foaming at the mouth proves his case to everyone he meets.

Symptom No. 2. Prolonged apathy — you don't want anything, you are indifferent to the ongoing events . I note that both psychologists and psychotherapists work with this condition. But if it lasts more than two months, of course, you need to go to the last one.

Sign No. 3. You are haunted by obsessive thoughts, sometimes it even seems that someone controls them . We are talking about the impossibility of switching attention from an exciting topic to something else. Usually in such cases, thoughts are devoted to some global issues, for example, the salvation of the world and humanity.

Sign #4. Someone seems to be following or stalking you . It is important that this condition appears without any objective reasons. For example, if you are carrying a large amount of money from the sale of an apartment, a feeling of fear and apprehension may indeed arise, but in this case its origins are clear and easy to eliminate. It is worse when you do not know why such feelings visit you.

Sign No. 5. There is a feeling that the environment (relatives, neighbors, friends) is set against you or even preparing some kind of conspiracy . Sometimes suspicions can turn out to be true, everything happens in life. But in order to understand where is reality and where is fiction, it is better to contact a psychotherapist.

Symptom No. 6. Suicidal thoughts.

I note that the reason for contacting a specialist should be a combination of several signs at the same time. Let's say you have a drastic change in lifestyle, you sleep and eat poorly. And all this lasts more than two months. But in the case of the appearance of suicidal thoughts, a different story. This sign alone is enough to go to a psychotherapist.

Symptom No. 7. You hear extraneous voices, sounds, suddenly see various images, for example, a pattern on the wallpaper looks like a giant toad, a tie on the back of a chair looks like a crawling snake . We are not necessarily talking about schizophrenia and some complex diseases - people with a sensitive nervous system in a state of overstrain can also hear some extraneous sounds and voices.

This seems like a pretty obvious sign to see a psychotherapist, but many people ignore it or even drown it out with alcohol.

Sign No. 8. Outbreaks of sudden and unjustified aggression . Nothing has happened yet, but everything already infuriates you, the people around you piss you off. Someone experiences this state inside, and someone demonstrates it outside.

Sign No. 9. Sharp dissatisfaction with one's appearance without objective reasons . There are defects that really need to be corrected with the help of surgery. But when a person himself one day decides that he must go under the knife because of some far-fetched defect, while not having indications for surgery, this is unhealthy behavior.

Symptom #10. You think you have an incurable disease . And although all the tests and doctor's consultations say otherwise, it is impossible to convince you.

There is another manifestation: you experience pulling, aching pains, pressure, burning in different parts of the body. Analyzes are normal, and the origins of the disease state are unclear to you or the doctor.

Sign No. 11. When you open your eyes in the morning, you don’t know where you are, what day it is, and what is going on around you . It's hard for you to collect your thoughts.

Sign No. 12. You forget some important events from your life and the immediate past . Let's say a friend claims that you agreed to meet with him, but you don't understand what it's all about. It looks like memory lapses.

Feature No. 13. Alcohol and drug abuse . You relieve stress in this way, and it interferes with life and work. Remember the protagonist of the film "Duhless"? Here is a very similar situation.

Symptom No. 14. Lost appetite, you often forget to eat, or there is a backlash - you eat everything indiscriminately and cannot stop . Eating behavior is one of the best indicators of a person's psychological state.

Sign No. 15. New strange passions for something supernatural, magic, religion, psychological training have appeared in your life . Let me give you a vivid example: just a couple of months ago you were an atheist, and suddenly you decide to abruptly believe in God, you start going to church as a job and you are trying to impose your way of life on everyone you meet.

Symptom No. 16. Sudden changes in voice, facial expressions, gestures . Such things are most often noticed by people around. But you can track them yourself if you wish.

Sign No. 17. Scattered attention . You forget to close the door, turn off the iron, turn off the lights, etc.

Symptom No. 18. You are tormented by nightmares or some recurring fantastic dreams . In the morning you remember them perfectly in every detail, and they scare you. Also not a good sign is insomnia.

Sign No. 19. There was a feeling that you are an exceptional person who came into this world to bring people some truth, important knowledge, you see and know more than others . Usually such people do not have to save the whole of humanity, they can "save" a friend, a child, etc. They are more interested in living someone else's life than living their own.

Sign No. 20. You are not ready to go to a specialist, although you notice some of the listed signs behind you . A healthy person differs from an unhealthy one by the presence of criticism of his condition: if there are problems, I go to a doctor, psychologist, psychotherapist. But if there are serious deviations, often a person thinks to the last that everything is in order and he does not need help.

How do you know when it's time to see a psychotherapist? – Blog – Yasno

The very posing of the question, the very fact of its origin inside you, suggests that a psychotherapist is most likely needed. We all carry unlived conflicts, and when they escalate, we begin to experience a vague excitement, expressed, among other things, in such matters.

However, this is a philosophy. If you take it out of the brackets, then you can highlight several very specific signs that will help you understand that the help of a psychotherapist at least will not hurt.

Let us immediately note that we are not talking about clinical cases - people diagnosed with depression or some kind of disorder - but about urban neurotics praised by Woody Allen, about those who seem to be everything is fine , but still something is bothering .

So.

1. Constant feeling of guilt

Imagine a simple situation - your boss calls you. You don’t know why and on what issue, but everything shrinks inside you, and you begin to convulsively think about what exactly you were guilty of.

Or, let's say, you sort things out with your partner, but you immediately get lost, because in just two or three sentences he convinces you that your position has no right to exist and that it is you who are to blame for everything (again) .

If you are familiar with these situations, then a psychotherapist can be very helpful, because it means that you have a strong sense of guilt and inadequacy inside you.

Agree, it would be interesting to figure out where you got it from.

2. Feeling that you are doing the wrong thing

...And also that your partner is not like that, the job is not the same, the apartment is somehow not like that, and that in general you live in someone else's, rented life.

All this is a symptom of a situation as old as the world, in which parents put a lot of their expectations on the child, and then he feels obliged to fulfill them.

These expectations are so deeply ingrained that they become part of the personality, and a person can not always understand for what reasons he works as a lawyer, despite the fact that he has had a strong inclination towards graphic design all his life.

3. Constant procrastination

Much has been said about this over the past few years, but no one has said the most important thing: procrastination is not a problem, but a symptom of it. This is not a flu virus that you can catch on public transport and then recover from it, but some kind of permanent condition caused by a malfunction in the mental structure. Making to-do lists, time management, or simple willpower will not help here. Procrastination means that you either do not see the point in what you are doing (see the previous paragraph), or carry a prohibition on successful activities.

But what does a ban mean?

I believe you know that there is a special and very strong bond between parents and children. I also believe that you understand that breaking this connection can be very painful for them. Remember when your mother told you when you were a child don't go too far or put it down, it's too hard or it's too hard for you ?

This was caused not only by the desire to ensure your safety, but also by the fear of allowing you to be independent, to let go of yourself, to lose you forever. This fear is placed in you and leads to the fact that any action that can lead to separation from parents (read: any manifestation of independence) is perceived as something undesirable or even dangerous. And when you once again sit down for a marketing plan or are about to get a car license, that same cry is heard in your unconscious - don't go too far .

4. Feelings of anxiety and fear

Let's put aside the extreme cases expressed in panic attacks (we definitely need a psychotherapist) and focus on ordinary anxiety. For example, before an important meeting. Or before a date. Or before going to a party. It would seem - what is it, well, I'm worried, yes. I can not connect two words in a conversation with a stranger. Well, I'm just shy, it's even cute to some extent.

All this is true. However, try asking yourself a simple question. What exactly is causing you concern? Perhaps you are afraid of not being as cool as you would like? And why is it important to you to be cool - so important that your hands are shaking? And why does this desire haunt you always and everywhere? Why has it become a part of your life?

Don't know.

And with a psychotherapist, you will find out.

5. Relationship problems

You fall in love, but lose interest as soon as you realize that the feelings are mutual. You tend to choose emotionally unavailable partners. Your sympathies are always directed towards those who are already in a relationship. It seems to you that if you fell in love, then there should be no secrets, boundaries between you and the object of love, and that, in general, you should immediately merge into one radiant whole and then live happily and forever.

There may be many options, but the meaning is always the same - an unresolved childhood conflict that you are trying to reproduce in adult life. If the boy had an emotionally unavailable mother, then he will choose the same women - and if by a happy mistake he happens to meet someone who will be ready to love him truly, he will run away from her in two weeks, because he has absolutely no experience of life in love and emotional connection.

If a girl grew up in a family from which her father left, then relationships with men can be associated with pain and rejection for her, and in order to insure herself against them, she will choose only those men who are initially incapable of them - married, immature or foreigners. (Note: this formulation seemed to many readers too general, unnatural and, in general, unfair. We would like to stipulate that everything that has been said is not the rule of life, but is one of the possible examples of the work of the unconscious, which does not obey logic and thinks and married , and immature , and foreigners as symbolic representations of the absent father).

There are a million options. But, you see, it is terribly interesting to understand which one is yours.

6. Pathological dissatisfaction with one's appearance

No, no, it's perfectly normal to look in the mirror from time to time and think I've gained weight . However, if this thought haunts you relentlessly, if, as it often happens, it diverges from reality (and we all know people who look great, but at the same time experience a lot of complexes), then this means that someone has planted a strong self dissatisfaction. Who exactly? What for? Why?

See a psychotherapist.

7. Excessive irritability

You are irritated by a person who walks ahead of you too slowly. You can't sleep because your sleeping partner is breathing too loudly. You roll your eyes when your mom calls.

All this speaks of a huge amount of aggression that has accumulated inside you and does not find its natural outlet.

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