According to Amy Morin (Author, “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do”), therapy isn’t just for those who are at the bottom of the hierarchical pyramid, it is also for those who are at the top of it. Let’s see why!
Imposter Syndrome
As a symptom of this syndrome, one does not feel inherently responsible for one’s success and wishes to attribute it to external situations or merely luck. At the end of the day, this “I just got lucky” perspective on your success makes you feel like a fraud.
People with this syndrome often suffer from depression and anxiety, as a result of feeling undeserving of success.
Initially, such clients might not want to acknowledge these feelings but a few sessions down the line, they do come to terms with how they feel about their success and are open to learning how they actually might be responsible for it.
The Drive
People who are successful are usually more resilient and have more of perseverance. Some people naturally fall into this category. Others shape themselves to fit into the box because of the painful past that they’ve had. For instance, success helps them feel good about themselves when all they were told while growing up was that they are not good enough. Or it helps them get the conditional love of their parents.
Success may temporarily act as a Band-Aid but all Band-Aids do rot some day and you might be forced to see the underlying wound. And that’s when you might need a therapist.
Being Lonely At The Top
Busy schedules keep you from meeting friends and family. And as a part of your corporate policy, you might be discouraged to befriend subordinates. And meeting your colleagues might feel like you’ve been put back inside the pressure cooker you were trying to escape in the first place.
So being at the top can be lonely. A therapist can then help you find places or opportunities where you can develop genuine friendships.
Fear Of Losing Everything
The more you gain, the more you have to lose. And this loss could depend on you making or not making a move. This amount of stress can result in anxiety.
Therapy can help such people realise that they need some time off to recharge themselves and that their net-worth is not the same as their self-worth. The sessions can also help them come up with coping mechanisms for their anxiety.
Guilty About Being Successful
The first thing you might hear from a successful person walking into your office is, “I shouldn’t even be here. There are people outside with bigger and more genuine problems who need your help.”
Entitlement is not the case with every successful person. These people might feel like they don’t deserve a vacation or a new car or even a therapy session. This can be true especially if they have been poor in the past.
Therapists help change such self-limiting beliefs and make successful people transform their guilt into feeling more responsible for having an impact on the world.
