How the fear of emotion keeps us struggling and what to do about it.

While society as a whole is becoming increasingly conscious of mental health, and the social consequences of the global Covid-19 pandemic has made the issue ever more salient, the idea of asking for professional help has largely remained taboo. The fear of being thought mad, weak or helpless, and the prospect of having to revisit personal trauma, have stopped many people from seeking out a therapist.

In this empathetic and practical guide, drawing on some of the latest studies in the field, psychotherapist Donna Maria Bottomley examines these anxieties and argues that therapy should be just as acceptable as seeing a GP or booking your car into the garage, and needn’t be our last resort.

Do I Need to See a Therapist? provides insight into how we can acknowledge and overcome the dual-fear of not only what we think it means about us if we see a therapist, but the fear of our own emotions themselves. The book introduces the concept of interception and how we can start to understand more about our emotions by noticing what happens in our body when we feel a certain way. A framework for plotting what is upsetting us is provided, and the book also lays out what to expect from therapy and how to make it work for us. The many pathways towards finding help, whether in a traditional practice setting or via alternate routes made possible by modern technology are also discussed.