The Power of Therapy

By Isabel Berckemeyer

People always highlight college as the best four years of your life. The glorification of college causes students to put an exorbitant amount of pressure on their college careers. Nobody ever speaks about the shock of entering college life. Being a young adult and trying to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life is not an easy transition. 

With college comes late nights in the library, ten-page papers you procrastinated on doing until the night before, grades you never thought you’d receive, emotional breakdowns, homesickness, extreme exhaustion, overstimulation, drama, and anxiety over your future. 

During my first year of college, I was forced to face all these factors. As a freshman I felt like I had been thrown into the deep end of a pool, with someone was standing over the edge yelling at me to swim while I was drowning. I was overwhelmed with meeting new friends, keeping up in classes, joining clubs, being away from home for the first time, and learning to process my emotions instead of pushing them away. 

I didn’t know how to get my head above water until I considered therapy. I had perceived therapy to only be for people who had anxiety, depression, or a mental illness, but I never considered it as an option to help me. After months of trying to juggle and balance everything, I decided to weigh the option of attending therapy. My older sister encouraged me to go—she shared that everyone can be in therapy; access to help is not dependent on what you have and have not been through in life. Being away from home, I learned that calling my sisters every two seconds for advice and leaning on my parents for support was not going to always hold up well. Instead, I found comfort in gaining a support system on campus in the form of a therapist. 

After just one therapy session, I felt a weight lifted off of my shoulders. It felt like such a relief to share my struggles, fears, and thoughts with someone else who could help me lessen the weight of my thoughts. But I struggled with a shame complex believing that something was wrong with me because I needed to see a therapist. I didn’t want to tell my friends I was seeing a therapist because I didn’t want anyone to think there was something “wrong” with me. 

I learned to not feel embarrassed for going to therapy when I realized that so many people in my life go to therapy. Now I know that therapy is nothing to be ashamed of. It is an immensely helpful resource that I believe everyone should utilize. My therapist gave me an unbiased opinion on a variety of issues like friend group drama, advice I could use for managing my workload, and coping mechanisms to deal with my emotions. Therapy has allowed me to better regulate and release my emotions—I feel much more equipped to deal with stressors in my life. Everyone and anyone can benefit from going to therapy, and every reason for therapy is valid.