Patricia Grisafi
Warning: Mention of self-injury, suicide
The moment you realize you need a therapist can be really scary but also empowering. Therapy is hard, but it’s incredible how it can help you change your life for the better. No stigma, no shame—just taking control of your mental health and using all the tools available.
On Reddit, women are sharing the moment they realized they needed therapy—and so many of these stories will sound familiar to you.
Having anxiety attacks? Trouble focusing? Untended trauma? Relationship problems? Suicidal ideation? These are all good reasons to see a therapist and start the healing.
1. “You Need To Go To Therapy!”
“When my non-bossy partner said, ‘You need to go to therapy.’ He pretty much never tells me what to do, so I knew he was serious. At my first appointment, I told my therapist that he had been telling me for 6 months to go. She said ‘That’s pretty good! Most people take a year or two of family members urging them to go to therapy.'” — searedscallops
2. Being Hospitalized
“I kept picking severely damaged, emotionally unavailable men. After I ended up in the hospital for a month after the last one, I launched into intense therapy to avoid repeating the same mistakes.” — SaltyDoggoMeo
3. Unable To Eat
“When I only could eat liquids for 8 months straight. Most terrible thing ever, imagine not being able to eat if you want to eat and no doctor has an answer.” — antictrash
4. Drinking Heavily
“When I realized I couldn’t sleep without medications and couldn’t eat without heavily drinking after my dad’s suicide. Also suicidal ideation & self harm for the following two years really pushed me into getting therapy.” — DestineeDiane
5. Mom’s Advice
“I had a breakdown in the bathroom at a restaurant and started sobbing. My mom walked in, held me, and told me everything would be ok and it would help if I started seeing a therapist. I agreed.” — Hsixtwosix
6. Coping With Transitioning
“Mine was when I started drinking every time I felt down and that I had come to the realisation that I was trans. I kept thinking being a woman will never be my reality. 2 years later I don’t even see ‘him’ in the mirror anymore and I’m much happier, I still have a long way to go but I’m so much happier now.” — Kela95
7. While Helping Someone Else
“Mine occurred in therapy. I was there to learn how to help my daughter who had some anxiety but wasn’t comfortable talking to anyone but me. So I saw a counsellor to learn the best way to support her. During a session I mentioned using my down time to do home improvements. She said ‘what about just having an easy day where you do nothing?’ I couldn’t fathom that. I said, with complete sincerity ‘life isn’t supposed to be easy.’ Never f*cking occurred to me that life can be easy sometimes. Childhood trauma, family MH issues, etc taught me to constantly be improving, be fixing, get ahead of problems. And I unconsciously modeled that for my kid. I told the counsellor that I was like this old cat we adopted who didn’t know how to play with cat toys. I didn’t know how to play. I said ‘wow, I’m f*cked up.’ She just nodded.” — effygrant
8. Constant Despair
“When I asked my friend how she dealt with the constant despair and dread of being alive/living and she had no idea what I meant.” — Bellebasi
9. Wanting To Change
“Got into a really, really bad fight with my husband and the day after, looking back at how I reacted, I realized I was the as*hole. I didn’t want to stay that way, so within the hour I booked my first session.” — EconomySpot3018
10. Self Injury
“When a six week relationship came to a messy end, and at 33 years old I coped by cutting myself. Had not done that since I was a teenager. Just realizing that my fear of abandonment runs so deep that it doesn’t matter if the person I feel is abandoning me is trash or not, I cant cope with it in a healthy fashion. My first counseling appointment in five years is tomorrow afternoon.” — VelvetFox1988
11. Job Pressures
“When I couldn’t get out of bed one day. For the first time ever, I didn’t change out of my pyjamas, shower or eat all day- because I couldn’t face going to work. Started therapy to deal with the pressure of my job, which was largely coming from a terrible upper manager. I recently started a new job, and made a minor mistake that had no ongoing impacts but I freaked out and didn’t sleep all night. My new manager was so kind that I had all this anxious energy I didn’t know what to do with it- realised I might need to go back and deal with some underlying trauma still.” — LittleWinchester
12. Dissociating
“When I realized I couldn’t remember large chunks of my evening. I would get home from work, handle dinner and getting the kid ready for bed, then space out for a couple hours. I turned the tv on and turned on my laptop, sure, but I didn’t really focus on them. I remember blinking once and my eyes burning and aching like I’d been staring for way too long. I’d actually been dissociating every night in an attempt to self soothe and survive working a terrible job and living with questionable roommates. So yeah, when I realized I was missing hours of time— couldn’t remember the plot of whatever show was on, couldn’t even remember what show it was, never navigated further than the google homepage, eyes burning, thoughts far away— I got a consultation. Surprise, surprise, turns out I’ve got depression, anxiety, CPTSD, and ADHD. Comorbidities ftl!” — zombiemommy
13. Crying About Everything
“When I would cry at the slightest little inconveniences in my life (like having dirty dishes or the blinds being left open by my roommates). I knew my emotional state was being held up by a thread and each little thing was the straw on a camels back constantly making me crumble.” — fourty-tw0
14. Unable To Sleep
“I couldn’t sleep. I just couldn’t f*cking sleep. Ever.” — bananajamz987
15. Anxiety Attacks
“When I went to the emergency room thinking I was having a heart attack. They did all the tests and couldn’t find anything wrong, so they said it was most likely anxiety. I realized then that the amount of anxiety I felt on a daily basis was probably not normal.” — tropicalparadise27
16. Scary Thoughts
“When I realized that every time I got behind my steering wheel to go anywhere at all, I was hoping and wishing to get into an accident I didn’t make it out of. I can’t even pin when that started, it just dawned on me a few months ago that healthy people don’t think like that, 10’s of times a day…phew.” — lilcherrylady
17. Consent
“When my new boyfriend did not get pissed off at me not wanting sex (first time I declined with him). I said, ‘I don’t know’ when he asked if I wanted to, and he said ‘that means no, and that’s totally fine. Wanna cuddle instead?’ I had a total meltdown and was crying and hyperventilating, and he was completely confused at my reaction. I was so scared trying to say no, even though I wasn’t able to say the word no. Now I’ve been in therapy for 2ish years and am able to say no when I need to with my lovely man. I feel guilty but not scared. Huge progress.” — LittlePurrx
18. “You’re Turning Into Your Mother”
“When I was told that I was turning into my mother. That moment was my slap in the face and therapy started that week and continued through a very hard 2 years of my life. Still going as well just to keep the growth going.” — ikogut
Featured Image: Unsplash