Attorney Wellness
| Publication year | 2020 |
| Pages | 0064 |
| Citation | Vol. 25 No. 6 Pg. 0064 |
The Benefits of Counseling
Attorney Megan Murren Rittle shares how she dealt with anger, grief and shame after a difficult life event by seeking professional counseling, available through the Lawyer Assistance Program.
BY MEGAN MURREN RITTLE
As I sat down to write this article, I had been in quarantine for 11 days. Eleven long days, and then Gov. Kemp issued an executive order extending quarantine for at least 10 more days.
The first time I saw the movie "Castaway," I envied Tom Hanks' character. What a treat it would be, I thought—solitude; no work; every night is Friday night, and every day is Saturday. I also wholeheartedly believed that I had the mental fortitude to endure four years of solitude. Now, given my current situation, I am not so confident.
Quarantine has shown me a side of myself that I have not seen before. I am anxious. I am worried. I am irritable. I feel isolated and suffocated at the same time. My wonderful husband, who is the most optimistic person I know, is taking my mood swings in stride and offering unwavering support, which is adding guilt to the litany of negative emotions I feel, because I think I should be positive and optimistic. I need help. I can't do this alone. I can't expect my husband to shoulder his burdens and mine, too.
Thankfully, I have a resource and so do you. The State Bar of Georgia's Lawyer Assistance Program has a great resource called Use Your Six, which provides any Georgia lawyer with six counseling sessions per calendar year with an independent, fully-licensed counselor. The sessions are provided at no cost to the lawyer and are completely confidential.
According to the American Psychological Association, research suggests that therapy effectively decreases patients' depression, anxiety and related symptoms—such as pain, fatigue and nausea. Therapy has also been found to have a positive effect on the body's immune system. Research increasingly supports the idea that emotional and physical health are very closely linked and that therapy can improve a person's overall health status. One major study showed that 50 percent of patients noticeably improved after eight sessions while 75 percent of individuals in therapy improved by the end of six months.[1]
Several years ago, I went through a divorce. Although the divorce was amicable, I was still experiencing a lot of anger—with myself, my...
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