In every person’s life there are some crucial situations which one copes with success and other fails to cope with. When we have difficulties in dealing with them then we should better ask for help.
When should we ask for help? The answer is subjective because every person tests his limits throughout his life acquiring a sense of self-efficacy, how one can manage to meet life challenges successfully. So if someone has a low sense of self-efficacy then he is more likely to seek for professional help in order to find the causes that lead to potential deadlocks. Of course this requires self awareness.Some people do not realize their mistakes and are motivated by others who show them the wrong directions that have followed in their lives. It is essential that everyone has self-knowledge, awareness of their thoughts and feelings so that they can receive help for their own benefit.
The question arising is what kind of conditions and feelings should spur us towards this direction. Usually the conditions concern the loss of a loved one, divorce of a couple, confrontation with an incurable illness, experiencing a natural disaster, intense anxiety, appearance of physical symptoms due to psychological factors, difficulty in communicating with others, inability to manage our behavior like intense bursts of anger, violence, drug addiction, severe changes in our eating habits like intense loss or weight gain, adaptation problems, decreased libido, suicidal thoughts. These conditions lead to psychotherapeutic intervention.
Apart from the conditions we need to focus on our emotions which warn us about our psychological state. So if you have intense feelings of sadness, anger, unhappiness, loneliness, frustration, anxiety, failure to take satisfaction from activities that you previously enjoyed, feelings of inferiority, fatigue then you need to contact with a mental health specialist.
Before we reach a psychologist we should be informed about his professional training. He must have a degree in psychology and a training in psychotherapy like psychoanalysis, cognitive-behaviour, existential, gestalt, adlerian, family therapy etc. We should also feel comfortable to create a relationship of trust with our therapist based on active listening, reflection of our feelings, keeping the code of ethics.
Finally, what needs to be highlighted is the taking care of ourselves as he is the one that accompanies us throughout our lifespan. So we need to act in favour of our self development. We must always keep in mind that one’s self is precious.