Common Counselling Myths

Only really mentally ill people need counselling. 

This is not true; many people get counselling to help them work through things they are going through. In fact counselling can be for anybody and it has a very higher percentage of really positive, long term outcomes for clients. 

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It makes you weak asking for help.

This is also not true. There are many things that we might get used to hearing such as “man up”, “get over it” or “people have it worse than you” and these things can really impact what we think about then accessing support as well as how we then learn to handle situations but the truth is everyone needs help or support at some point in their life and when you hearing common phrases like this, it I actually takes bravery and strength to understand the bigger picture and want to address how you are feeling and then work towards changing how you currently feel. 

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How can a person who doesn’t even know me, understand me and help me more than someone I know?

  It is important to understand here that a counsellor is trained to specialize in this, just like teachers are trained to teach their subject area or a doctor is trained to check what is going on with your physical health. They are also not there to tell you how or what to feel but to openly and actively listen to you and hear you so that you feel seen and heard. Offering you a safe space to explore who you are and the experiences you have had and then work through them with you side by side.  

 
Counselling will take ages!

Don’t worry this is not true. In fact, most commonly people may need 12 sessions or less. Some may need more but this is down to personally circumstances and how much they want to or need to work through but I can honestly say that you will not be in counselling/therapy for all of your life. Many do revisit counselling at a later stage of life and that is usually due to the success they had in the past.

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Therapy isn’t as good as medication.

Both medication and therapy have their benefits. There isn’t a one shoe fits all approach and some may benefit from one more than the other whilst others may benefit from both. The benefits to medication are you get a more immediate chemical response in the body, whereas therapy is great for dealing with the underlying reasons you are feeling that way in the first place so you can feel better more permanently.

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Will I have to lie on a couch and be analysed?

Don’t worry this isn’t true either. 
A counsellor will absolutely not make you lie down on a couch or sit and analyse you. Their sole purpose is to help you emotionally so you can feel better.