I never understood why people were so ashamed about going to see a: psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, counselor or shrink. I guess when I look at it from a personal point of view, I understand why people are shy when it comes to telling others they need help.

I have a really hard time asking for help. I’ve always been that way. I just want to do things myself, on my own terms, in my own way. I feel that if I ask for help, it’s admitting that I couldn’t do something on my own and that I needed someone to help me.

It took me a long time to realize that there are some things that I just need help with and I can’t do on my own. Once I realized that, asking for help became easier.

But it made me think of how shy I was when I asked for help. It’s the same way people get when they say they go to someone for help. It’s like they’re admitting something bad when it’s not bad at all. Their shoulders may slump, their eyes may dart back and forth, and their head may drop. Their volume lowers and their tone becomes somewhat somber as they say something like, “Yeah, I see a psychologist.”

It seems as if there’s a social stigma against getting help. Whether you go to get help for a medical reason or you’re going by choice, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Even though it’s personal, no one ever talks about it.

The phrase is, “mental health issues,” although the “issues” part of it makes it seem like it’s a bad thing. So whether you’re going because you have a condition or you’re going because it’ll be beneficial for your health in general, don’t worry so much about it.

I think we think others will judge us a lot more than they actually do.

Because there’s such a hush-hush factor about seeing a medical professional for help with mental insecurities or wellbeing, perhaps not everyone is getting the help they need to be getting. It could range from couples not wanting to go to counseling because they don’t think it’d work, teens not wanting to go to therapy so they don’t get made fun of or someone who may need someone else to talk to who will actually listen to any problems they have or things they just need to get off their chest.

Why don’t we talk about this more often? If we talk about it and get it in the open, it’ll seem a lot less scary. For personal reasons, obviously you may not want to talk about what goes on in these sessions, but just acknowledging the fact that you see someone for help may lift some weight off your chest.