Top Reasons to Have Hard Conversations With Your Therapist
If you’ve signed up for therapy, there’s likely a reason for it. It’s possible that you haven’t been feeling well, that you need support or coping strategies, or that you’re going through a difficult season in life. Despite having made that initial decision to sign up for therapy, people can still struggle to open up and bring up the most sensitive topics with their therapists.
Here are some reasons we encourage you to take the leap.
1. This is exactly what your therapist is here for, and they can handle it.
While the information you want to share is very personal to you, it’s important to know that your therapist can handle it. Your therapist has been trained to take care of themselves in session, and they have been trained to help you work through the things you’re dealing with. Therapists are trained to take a non-judgmental approach, so you can speak freely without being worried about judgment.
2. When you have no other trusted, confidential, and nonjudgmental people to share with, your therapist is here.
It’s not uncommon for people to tell therapists about thoughts, feelings, and experiences that they have never disclosed to their friends or family. Many people don’t feel comfortable telling their friends and family personal information because they don’t think others will understand. They think they will be judged, or they think that they will be a burden (that’s a whole other conversation). Point is, therapy is a place where you can share your innermost thoughts and experience and know that it won’t go anywhere. Your therapist is bound to confidentiality guidelines, and they are trained in using a nonjudgmental approach. If there’s a place to share personal and sensitive information, therapy is the place!
3. Your therapist can normalize the thoughts, feelings, and experiences you are having.
Your therapist has heard many other people’s stories, and while your story is uniquely personal to you, therapists often find that something you think is unusual is actually very common. For example, many people have negative thoughts about themselves and their experiences with mental health, and they assume that they are the only one experiencing these thoughts or feelings. When you share this with your therapist, they are able to reassure you that you are not the only one having a particular set of thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Because certain topics are taboo in our society, we don’t get to hear the stories of the many other people who can relate to our experiences.
4. You will feel better after sharing.
There’s an old saying that “our secrets keep us sick.” Unloading and getting things off your chest in therapy allows you to get the support you need, so you can leave the session feeling lighter. Holding things in is not necessarily helpful for our mental or physical health.
5. Avoiding hard topics can interfere with your progress and ability to feel better.
It’s not uncommon for people to want to avoid hard conversations. Doing so, however, prevents people from dealing with the things that need to be addressed.
When we avoid important topics, the person we have asked to help us (our therapist) is unable to do so, because we haven’t included them in on what’s going on.
6. While you might not know what to do in a given situation, your therapist might.
One of the benefits of therapy is having an outside perspective. It’s not uncommon for people to think that their situation is helpless or hopeless, when in fact it is not.
When you bring up hard topics in therapy, your therapist can help you see things that you cannot. Your therapist can also teach you coping strategies for dealing with a given situation.
Now that we’ve reviewed a few of the reasons why it’s important to bring up the hard topics in therapy, ask yourself if you’ve been holding back. If so, I encourage you to push yourself just a little bit more by sharing the things that you’ve been wanting to share with your therapist. Doing so is an opportunity to find relief and to get the support and perspective you need.
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The counselors and social workers at our Maryland office also offer counseling services for trauma, grief and loss, boundary setting, communication skills, and difficult life transitions. We also offer specialized counseling services including Brainspotting and spiritually-integrated counseling. Because we are located next to several local universities, we also work with college students and international students.
Written By: Melissa Wesner, LCPC
Photo Credit: SHVETS Production & Katarina Holmes on Pexels
Date of Download: 4/1/2022
