IU Counseling and Psychological Services are located on the fourth floor of the health center. There is a front desk with a friendly staff waiting near the exit of the elevator to help check you in. After you fill out a survey on a computer about how you’re feeling that week, your therapist calls you in to your appointment.
The offices are a cozy, warmly lit room with a few plants or so. As you can tell, I’ve been to CAPS, and I promise it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
I can’t help but notice there is still a large stigma around going to therapy.
I find this pretty sad, especially considering many studies are showing depression and anxiety rates for college students are especially high.
It’s not too difficult to figure out why. Students are often balancing rigorous academic and work schedules, friendships, family issues, relationships and the anxiety of moving up in to the real world.
Sometimes a friend will be telling me about their current problems or telling me how they’ve been feeling pretty depressed. If it seems like the right time, I’ll try to ask gently if they’ve ever considered therapy and mention it has been an awesome addition to my life.
I often hear some variation of the response, “It’s not that I don’t believe in it, but I just don’t think my problem is serious enough. Other people have it way worse.”
This is always a bit disheartening to me.
While I think it’s a kind idea to acknowledge our lives come with blessings that others many not have, I think it’s totally OK to admit there are times in your own life that can feel really difficult and serious, even if they seem less important to you.
Other times, I have heard people respond in a different way to the concept of therapy. They may say something such as it’s silly to waste money to pay people to fix your own problems. To that I say don’t knock it till you try it.
I honestly believe anyone can benefit from counseling. There is a difference between talking to a therapist and talking to a close friend. A therapist is carefully trained.
Furthermore, because friendships are complex in nature, a good friend may be afraid to tell you the advice that you really need. The best part about counseling in my opinion is it’s all up to you.
You don’t have to go for months and months if you don’t want to. You can go whenever you want, and you’ll get out of it what you are willing to put into it.
Also, almost every counselor will tell you this, but if you don’t click with the person you are seeing, don’t feel bad in seeing someone new instead.
I’ve heard too many stories about people being turned off by counseling because of a bad connection with a therapist, but in my experience, there’s definitely someone out there who you feel works great with your personality.
I would say American society definitely values independence. People are all encouraged to work as hard as they can to come out on top and not to need to ask for help. While this is not a bad idea inherently, it can become one when it leads to people bottling up their emotional stresses.
As humans though, we also crave connection, and I think we always want to be heard and understood. I think trying out counseling can be a great way to help out with this, and I give it my full recommendation.
sdloughr@umail.iu.edu
