00:00Do you want to feel less stressed out? Do you want to regain some emotional
00:02balance? Do you want to have better relationships with your peers and with
00:05yourself? These are all things that can be improved through counseling.
00:08Hi, I'm Patricia and I specialize in psychotherapy for young adults, adolescents,
00:14and teens. I focus primarily on issues of anxiety, stress-related disorders, and
00:18depression. There's absolutely no shame in going to therapy. In fact, I've been in
00:22therapy since I was eight years old and I know I'm not alone. I go to therapy. I go
00:26to therapy. I go to therapy. I go to therapy. I've never been to therapy, but I
00:32kind of want to go. African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans use mental health
00:35services at one half the rate of Caucasian-Americans. I'm still on the
00:39fence and I've always wondered, do you only seek therapy if you've endured a
00:43trauma? And I don't necessarily have any of those things, so I'm wondering if a
00:48therapist is the right avenue for me. There's this common misconception that
00:52you have to have a disorder or a mental illness to go see a therapist. That's
00:56not true at all. Plenty of people just want unbiased, unfiltered advice from a
01:02professional. I go to therapy because it's the perfect time for me to really
01:08dive into what's going on in my mind and just having kind of that neutral party
01:12that I'm able to talk to every other week. For me, the best thing about therapy
01:17has just been the relationship. I really trust her and like being able to trust
01:21somebody who I see once a week has just been incredible for me. I've had really
01:26bad anxiety and OCD since I was like four or five. I have pretty frequent anxiety,
01:31take medication for it. The good news about anxiety is that it is highly
01:36treatable. Getting a diagnosis of something is really important because you
01:39can think that you have something or you can self-medicate or self-prescribe. It didn't
01:44feel real until someone told me. I've worried if I have anxiety but I've been
01:49told that I'm just a bit neurotic and that it's just a symptom of being a
01:53well-bred Jew. Many people that I work with have had complicated or difficult
01:56childhoods and they want to rehash kind of the family dynamics so they can move
02:01forward in in their life and you know kind of start new. I remember being in a
02:06session with a therapist I was seeing back when I lived at home where she said
02:10you can't pick your parents and that was probably one of the dopest things
02:14anyone has ever said let alone a therapist. I always felt kind of like
02:18the black sheep and my therapist basically made me realize that just
02:21because you don't have the same relationship with your family that your
02:24friend might have with hers doesn't mean that you're in any way flawed. I think
02:29that many people still believe the only people that go to therapy are people
02:33that are like crazy and that are potentially institutionalized when the
02:37truth is the bulk of people that really do seek out treatment are
02:40high-functioning young adults. I think it's one of those things that if you're
02:44like oh well I'm going to therapy people are like oh shoot like something's wrong
02:48with Katie like oh she must be going crazy. You truly don't have to have a
02:52psychiatric disorder to get help. It's really not a big deal at all you're just
02:57sitting down with someone and you're just talking about X Y and Z like hey this is
03:02what happened this week at work this is what's been bothering me. When say I first
03:05started practicing say 20 years ago I would have clients I would only come on
03:09Saturday because they didn't want anybody to see them walking into the
03:12office. Nowadays middle schoolers teenagers they'll come to me and they'll
03:16say well my friend's therapist says this what do you think you know so there's
03:20becoming less of a stigma. I'm radically open about going to therapy oh I talk
03:24about it all the time. I begin every sentence with my therapist says not
03:28something that I'm ashamed of and it's definitely not something I hide. Finding
03:31the right therapist can be a process sometimes so don't give up if you don't
03:34like your first therapist that you visit. Find someone that you connect with and that
03:37you feel comfortable being honest with. If you're not feeling helped or supported
03:41seek help elsewhere. The therapist I saw in high school actually I think that she
03:46was violating her professional ethics. She was a friend of my mom's so she was
03:50on my mom's side with everything like I would complain about something my mom would
03:53do and she'd be like no I know your mom she would never do something like that
03:56like really just not helpful and I definitely support trying to see a
04:00therapist who works for you. If you are interested and want to go to
04:04therapy I would say talk to a parent or an adult that you trust. If you live far
04:08away and or don't have that kind of relationship with some of the adults in
04:11your life I would speak to your school counselor also I would speak to your
04:15primary care physician. If you need help there are people you can ask for it and
04:20you definitely shouldn't feel afraid to do that. What I love about being a
04:24therapist is that the world is filled with a lot of interesting people with
04:27wonderful stories and to be a part of helping someone to you know reach their
04:33dreams and potential is an absolute gift. Self-care is of the utmost importance
04:38so if you feel like you should go see a therapist then don't be afraid to speak
04:42out and seek help. See you next time.
