I can only speak for myself but I sought out counselling because...

I can only speak for myself but I sought out
counselling because I was living a totally
dysfunctional life. I had suffered anxiety,
depression, self doubt and self loathing since I
was about ten years of age. I struggled to
concentrate at school and work, was angry,
and learned to control my anxiety through
maladaptive behaviours, alcohol, drugs,
sex and gambling.
In my late twenties my health deteriorated to a
point that I knew I had to try fix myself or I
wouldn’t make it to my thirties.
I sought out counselling as an adjunct to other
steps that I had taken to improve my mental
health. As I discovered, I was in a deeper hole
than I realised and it has taken a lot longer and
a lot more time and work to free myself of my
past than I initially thought.
Counselling can take many shapes and forms
and recovering from mental trauma is complex
and certainly not linear.

The idea of counselling is for recovery not to
torture oneself, but recovery can bring forward
some uncomfortable feelings and memories.

Personally I was subjected to twenty years of
physical,emotional and psychological abuse on
a daily basis, and also watched my parents
abuse and attack each other physically
constantly.
I would challenge anyone to live in that sort of
environment and come out with their head in
a good place.

How long should one seek out counselling?
For as long as they think necessary but part of
the process is to get to a point where you are
free of a therapist and you can control the
process yourself.
I read a book written by an American
psychotherapist years ago and his rule was a
maximum of five years with a patient. He idea was
if a patient can’t self direct after five years then
the therapy has worked and the patient will
never get to the point of self direction.