Hi and welcome,

I could almost have written that same message! Here a few of my thoughts about therapy and what people in general say about it:

Sure, everybody has challenges and problems. Some people are more comfortable living with their problems than they are dealing with them. Maybe they can work it out on their own, but sometimes it really helps to get a little extra help, especially from someone who is an expert at giving you that help in the way that you need it.

Psychopathology differs from normalcy only in degree - it's a matter of how much things bother you. There is the extreme where people get extremely disfunctional and treatment is more of a requirement than an option, but most of the time we could get by without treatment. For some people, getting by is all they really want. That's their choice. But if you want more out of life, you are probably a highly intelligent person who is limited by current circumstances and you probably won't be content letting things stay the way they are.

The difference between therapy (dealing with deep-seated emotional and behavioral issues) and counseling (dealing with the normal problems of life) is not that much, and the two seem to be getting closer and closer all the time. Sometimes the kind of symptoms that are diagnosed as mental illnesses are a sign that you just need more out of life than what you are getting and it's time to make a change, but maybe you aren't allowing yourself what you need so your mind develops something that you have to pay attention to.

I'm at about the same stage of life where you are. I have three kids and my youngest will turn six in November. I went to college for 4 years, actually thought I had graduated but my degree wasn't awarded because of an incomplete, but I couldn't do anything in my fields without a graduate degree anyway and didn't get accepted to graduate school. I got married and had kids and was a stay-at-home-mom even though I had always felt that I needed more out of life than that. I collect hobbies - always have to be learning something new. But I got to the point where all that was just not enough.

Now I'm finishing up my degree and I'm going to apply to graduate school again. It's a struggle - they seem to be changing the requirements about every 5 minutes right now and it's going to take me an extra year to finish the degree that I already had done before. Graduate school will be hard. For one thing, we'll have to move or I will have to commute at least 3 hours away, and it will take 5 more years. It's scary, but staying on the same path I was on is worse.

I could get by without therapy. I have before. I had depression at least since I was 9 years old and made it through several major depressive episodes without anyone being concerned enough to offer help. But the support is good. It's like having something of a safety net - someone who will notice if I'm slipping and remind me not to give up. Your husband and friends might be able to do that for you, but they also might be too close to the situation to make the observations that need to be made.

Life is a journey. Make the most of it that you can. If you want to talk, this is a good place for it. People here are really nice, and supportive and you'll be part of the family before you even know it.

To the other new people on the board, welcome too. I haven't responded to all of you, mostly because I saw that others were already doing a good job of welcoming you and I couldn't think of much to say that they hadn't already. I guess I can get a little long-winded once in a while. That's allowed, BTW. I'm glad you're here.

<font color=red>"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing." -Harriet Braiker</font color=red>