Change the way you think. Be able to do the things that used to make you nervous. Feel more confident. 

These are some of the benefits we often hear about when talking about going to therapy for anxiety, right? And don't get me wrong, these are *real* benefits. But there are other ways therapy can make your life better if you're struggling with anxiety that we don't always talk about. So lets dive in to some other, less recognized ways therapy can give your life a major upgrade: 

1. It can help you sleep

Yup! What happens in the therapy room can make a huge difference in something that happens way outside of the therapy room. 

Sleep can make or break so many things: our day, our energy level, our mood. And it's so connected to good mental health. Unfortunately, anxiety can do a number on our sleep. And once it's thrown off kilter, it can sometimes be hard to get regulated on our own. 

Enter therapy. 

Therapists trained in sleep challenges and disorders (which all so often overlap with anxiety) can help you uncover the roots of your sleep issues, and tailor an approach to help you truly get better sleep. I'm not just talking meditation and no caffeine before bed--I'm talking figuring out the barriers to sleep that you may not even know exist, and implement long-lasting change so that you can catch more zzz's. 

2 . It can make you like your job more

Anxiety and mental health struggles overlap so much with work challenges. Whether is be dreading going in for the day, social anxiety, imposter syndrome and self-doubt, or lack of motivation, therapy can make a huge difference. Therapy can help you understand and alter the thought patterns and beliefs that may be operating behind the scenes, causing you stress, self-doubt, and discomfort. It can also help you break through motivation barriers, figure out what feels good for you and what you need, and work on ways to make work a more productive, comfortable space for you.

3. It can improve your relationships (even if you're not going to therapy for relationship issues) 

One of the great things about the therapy is that once our mental health starts to improve, there is a ripple effect. Even if you're not going to therapy to focus on relationship issues, by attending therapy, building insight into your challenges and working on improving them, enhancing your mood, lowering your uneasiness and anxiety, and increasing your overall mood and confidence level in moving through life, you now bring those improvements into all areas of life. Plus, therapy helps your understand and verbalize your feelings and needs, which can help you communicate, set boundaries, and ask for (and give) support in your personal life, too. 

4. It can help you find your passion

Therapy works to help you understand yourself more and more. This means building insight into your feelings, your needs, what brings you joy and what brings you stress, what you need more or and what you need less of, what makes life feel meaningful and what makes it harder. In this process, we often uncover the truest joys of our life. We find our real values, what makes life worthwhile for us, and we also learn the skills for pursuing those things. Therapy is not just about making the hard stuff less hard; it's about finding the good stuff and making it better. 

5. It can improve your sex life

That's right--even if you're not going to therapy for sex issues! Our ability to be intimate and connected to someone else, and to be present, is inherently tied to our mental health. If we are always in our heads, overthinking, questioning ourselves, and fearing the worst, it makes it hard to be in the moment, and to be present with someone else. It also can create block within our bodies that makes it challenging for us to feel comfortable and engaged in sex, or to find the drive to do it or the enjoyment in it that we are hoping to. Therapy gives us the skills of mindfulness: being present, being in our bodies, feelings, truly living. It gives us the skills for finding relief from the things that get in the way of us being able to have an enjoyable sex life, as well. 

If you're struggling with anxiety, therapy is one of the most helpful tools. It not only helps you ease your anxiety, but it has a wrap-around effect on your life: it addresses your life as a whole, and all of the areas that anxiety infultrates, whether we realize it or not. 

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This post is for informational purposes only, is not advice.