We seem to have lost the plot with therapy.

I’m saying this with all the love I can muster but I won’t hold your hand. Therapy is the solution not the end point. I fear that with this rise in mental health awareness and seeking healthy coping mechanisms we’re losing focus with what the main issue is.

Mental health issues are not to be trivialized in any shape, manner or form. It’s hard to take it as seriously with everyone self diagonizing themselves and leaving it at that. With quick infographics of the top 6 tell-tale signs for this mental illness or 30 second tik-toks breaking down complex issues into siziable bites for doom scrolling, short-attention span watchers.

We forget that in cherry picking our problems we search out no real solutions o even long term plans to manage these symptoms. We have anxiety, we tell ourselves, not just being anxious but we never read on any ways to combat the anxiety but instead we have found a shield to give us access into the empathy that is extended to those who have these mental health issues. Because in the rising awareness behind these issues, we’ve seen an opening to be given leniency but without consideration, abuse is inevitable.

We are late all the time because we have ADHD and we won’t set alarms to help us respect other people’s time or we don’t get up when the alarm rings, but it’s not our fault you see. Accountability knows no bounds within these walls. We’re directionally challenged but we won’t use google maps or turn on our locations, why bother to improve ourselves when we can just relax.

We have no intention of showing up for our friends but instead of informing them beforehand or at all, we can just flake and blame it on our mental health (not an apology by the way) when we are asked but we still want to be invited to every event regardless.

We know all the right words to say to elicite the right amount of empathy in others to the point where they begin to doubt if their concerns about your behavior is valid. We speak to our friends like we are in a therapy session, using anything we can to affirm our behavior.

Your mental health will explain your behavior but it will not excuse it and it’s time people remember that.