There are times when we all need a little extra support.

When those little bumps in the road turn into hills, you just can’t seem to climb and everything just feels overwhelming. It’s not easy to reach out to someone when you find yourself stuck in this position. But often it’s the very best thing you can do.

Do you find it hard to talk to those nearest and dearest to you? There are other sources you can draw on for help. The first stop you might want to make is at your doctor. Be honest and tell them what’s going on. They will be able to refer you on to a counselling or therapy service that will help you through the tough time. If you’ve never gone to therapy, here’s what you might expect.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This kind of therapy is a proactive one. It is designed to help you out of your self-destructive patterns of thinking that lead to self-destructive behavior. You won’t necessarily be talking about how you’ve got to the point you’re at. Rather, this therapy focuses in on how to stop the behavior.

You will practice challenging those self-destructive thoughts when they first arise. Responding to them with different thoughts should hopefully become a pattern and prevent you from following up with unwanted actions. This might be self-harm or using alcohol, drugs and so forth. This kind of therapy will ask the patient to practice techniques outside of the sessions. Generally they last between half an hour to one hour.

Talk Therapy

This might include a counselling service, where the counselor takes you through the reasons for why you’re feeling the way you are or behaving the way you do. Trained counselors often have their own specialties such as sex addiction counselling, eating disorder counselling and marriage guidance.

In this therapy you will talk about many things. You will discuss your past, significant events in your life, and recognize any links to your current situation. Your counselor may not offer specific advice. But they may ask you to carry out some homework, e.g. keeping a diary to help give you some insight into your behavior.

If your talk therapist is licensed, they may also combine your treatment with some medication. This might help you through any of the more severe symptoms, such as depression, anxiety and so forth.

Taking that first step to getting help is challenging and draining. Opening yourself up and being truthful about how you feel can create a sense of immense vulnerability and that can be frightening.

However, the sooner you take that first step, the sooner you can address and hopefully change how you’re feeling and any associated destructive behavior.

If you can, talk to a trusted friend or family member to start with. They will probably have recognized that something was going on in any case and be pleased to help.

Take them with you on your initial visit to the doctor if that helps. Get help sooner rather than later. You’ll feel like at least one weight has been lifted from your shoulders and there is some sun through the clouds.