People often find the support of a counselor or therapist helpful for a variety of reasons:

• To explore problems involving work, academic, social or family life, including interpersonal and relationship issues, and discover ways of making changes so these problems are lessened, and life becomes more satisfying.
  
  
• To share, in a completely confidential environment, tensions, frustrations, problems, or distressing feelings, or simply to “vent” – and be heard, by someone who listens, without judging you, and who cares about what happens to you. Often, just this helps, or it can be enhanced by feedback and ideas for feeling better.
  
  
• To make personal changes that we’ve been trying to make but just don’t seem to be happening as successfully as we’d like – such as trying to manage anger, use of alcohol or drugs, gambling, or other behaviors that seem to have “taken over.”
  
  
• To work on self-esteem. When we feel badly about ourselves, life doesn’t feel very satisfying. Therapy is a place where a person can actually improve his or her self-esteem.
  
  
• To explore our life and history, and discover what has influenced and continues to influence the way we live. This helps us understand what has gotten in our way, or what has influenced life choices that haven’t worked out well, and we can learn to make better choices and improve our experience of life.
  
  
• To address specific symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, obsessive thoughts, compulsive or impulsive behavior, etc., and alleviate our distress.
  
  
• To figure out why it is that something seems to be missing or not quite right in our lives, and craft solutions so that life feels more complete and satisfying.
  
  
• To discuss how to deal with the behavior of someone else in our lives, such as a spouse, significant other, or child, that is affecting us.
  
  
• To address the kinds of actions or inactions that can result in malpractice, which often are related to personal issues and patterns affecting other aspects of life, including such challenges as depression, relational difficulties, substance abuse, and avoidance of distressing feelings and situations.
  
  
• Because someone else who matters in our lives – a spouse or significant other, or a boss, for example – has told us or recommended that we “need to see someone.”