In addition to the points that have been made in this blog previously about “Why go to a psychologist?” there is one more:
When you have personal problems in some way associated with psychological matters, there is a typical way that people deal with them: They think about them; they think about the problem. In previous blogs in this series, it has been pointed out how thinking about a problem tends to be a repetitive process. You run over the critical details of the problem, most likely the circumstances that seems to be the most irritating or disturbing element or elements of the problem. It was those things that created your awareness of the problem, and, because of that, you tend to reiterate them in your mind, repeating them endlessly to yourself and dwelling on the emotional and other personal effect which have been the result. This is called “obsessing” because it becomes a form of obsessive behavior.
Think of this kind of thinking as a wheel. It is circular in form, and while it turns, the wheel remains the same, going around, around, and around. That is typically what thinking about problems is for most people. They focus on the most disturbing elements of the problem and repeat and dwell on that. In a sense, this kind of thinking creates a rut just like an endlessly spinning wheel does in the mud. The faster and more that the wheel turns, the deeper is the rut that it creates.
A rut is not a solution to the problem, but it is a something that you can get stuck in, and when you are stuck, you are not going anywhere. What you need is to stop the endless circular, repetitive thinking, and get out of the rut. That is where seeing a psychologist comes in. In a symbolic sense, the psychologist has the pick and shovel that you need to dig your way out of the rut.
As anyone who has been in a vehicle with wheels that have been stuck in a rut knows, the first thing that you have to do is stop spinning your wheels. By unburdening yourself of the basic elements of the problem to the psychologist, you can dispel the need to continue endlessly repeating the basic elements of the problem. When you share them with the psychologist, you have taken a positive action, told your story to someone who can help you to solve your problem, and so there is no longer a need to continue to repeat the problem in your mind.
It is now up to the psychologist to help you to find the tools to dig yourself out of the rut and start focusing on solutions to your problem rather than focusing on the problem itself. It is the role of the psychologist not to tell you what to do, but to help you to determine new solution-oriented approaches to your problem. The psychologist is aware of a broad range to techniques and approaches (“tools”) to help people to come to some form of dealing with their problems. The psychologist will offer you new insights into the nature of the problem, and these insights can be the means for the identification of the “tools” that you need to come to some resolution to your problem. The value of going to a psychologist lies in the fact that the psychologist will lead you to and help you to identify the tools needed to resolve problems that are resolvable or to cope with problems that are not immediately resolvable. The psychologist is like the hardware store that you go to to get the tools that you need to do a job right, effectively, and efficiently. So, instead of figuratively “digging your way” out of your problem with your ineffective, repetitive thinking, go to the “hardware store” and get the tools that you need: go the a psychologist.
Talking to a psychologist offers a highly valuable and positive way of dealing with your personal problems rather than endlessly repeating them in your mind. The psychologist will contribute understanding and positive approach to encountering, coping with, and some eventual solution to disturbing personal problems, worries, and fears.
