2 Types of Patients - Which Are You?

I tend to see two types of patients:

1) The ones who know without a doubt they need psychology and are ready to hit the ground running.

2) The ones described below - unsure, questioning, perhaps getting help for the first time.

"I'm not sure if I need to come". "The stuff going on is not that bad". "I am sure you have other patients that are way worse". "I do not want to waste your time". These are some of the things I hear from patients. That questioning if they are in the right place. Whether their struggles are big enough, or important enough. I have never had a patient in front of me that did not need to be there. Sometimes people do not need to come for a long time or they might need to debrief or have a mental health check-up. I found myself in camp 2 this week in the physio. I said sitting in my appointment "I am not sure if I need to be here". What became apparent was the small pain would become a big pain if I do not start looking after it now. Secondly, I also needed the physio to check me out before a big event I am training for. Both of these things completely warrant an appointment. As a society, We have not quite gotten into the practice of prevention. Preventing things from getting worse. We often ignore our minor niggles, thinking they will resolve themselves. Of course, sometimes they do. However, sometimes, the small niggles, turn into bigger niggles. The bigger niggles become problems, followed by chronic difficulties and pathologies. A big part of this is culture. "Keep going", "smile can carry on". We do not like to ask for help and we only justify getting help when things have got quite bad. We are working hard, living hard, going going going. We are often performing but underneath there are these niggles. We forget there is no harm in getting help but it can be detrimental if we do not. Funnily enough, it is those people who have come to therapy for some time who 'get it'. They are the ones that have worked hard on themselves and seen the results. So they get they also need to work hard to maintain a healthy status and prevent future problems. It is often these people who are popping in for check-ups with their psychologist every now and then. They are the ones that do not need to question if they should turn up. I won't be questioning my physio appointments anymore. No matter where you are on the scale it is always better to get support sooner rather than later. To book an appointment click here.