Overcoming the Fear of Therapy

By Denise Humphrey, Ph.D., www.DeniseHumphrey.com

We all want to be our best. We seek the advise of experts whenever we have a medical, financial, or legal concern. Some people hire executive coaches to help them be their best professionally. We hire CPAs to ensure we get the best tax services possible. Our social norms encourage the employment of experts. And yet, many people neglect one of the most important components of living a happy, productive life — emotions.

Emotional wellness is essential to experiencing healthy relationships, successful parenting, professional growth and physical health. Employing the services of a professional trained to understand the human psyche is no different than employing the services of a physical fitness trainer.

And yet, therapy has a stigma associated with it. Only the truly crazy or the emotionally weak seek therapy. Of course, the opposite is true. It takes great strength and courage to open oneself up to examination. The “people pleasers” of the world may feel that therapy is overly self-indulgent — spending an entire hour talking only about oneself may feel incredibly uncomfortable or awkward at best. The stoics of the world may say, “The past is the past. Get over it.” We all know “getting over it” isn’t that easy; hence the fear of therapy.

How do you overcome the fear of therapy?

Start believing that your emotional life matters. That your feelings are real and should be honored. Accept that therapy is a basic exercise in self-improvement — a deliberate choice to be an active participant in your own life. Know that everything said within the confines of therapy is 100% confidential.

Therapy is perhaps the safest place to express one’s self with complete honesty as there are no negative consequences — feelings will not be hurt, moral judgments are not made, and there is no “right or wrong.”

The examination of our actions, our reactions and our emotional experiences allows us to understand why we get stuck in behavioral patterns that do not serve us. We are able to understand and accept family and intimate relationships better. And we get to know ourselves, love ourselves and respect ourselves on a deeper level, which helps us be our best in all other areas of our lives.

Denise Humphrey, Ph.D
Schedule an appointment with Dr. Humphrey today! 972-239-2490

CREDENTIALS
•    Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology:  Fielding Graduate University
•    Master of Music in Piano Performance:  University of Notre Dame
•    Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance:  Southern Methodist University
•    License No. and State: 32345 Texas
•    Board of Trustees, Dallas Foundation for Psychoanalysis
•    Chair, Arts Committee for the Dallas Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology
•    Member, National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology