Change takes as long as it takes. And mental health tends to be far more nuanced than physical medicine. After all, there is no lab work to be done to assess your emotions, nor any surgical procedure performed which will remove your emotion-based symptoms.

How do you know when to pull the trigger and make that first appointment with a therapist? You want change, but don’t know if it’s all quite serious enough to bring in a therapist. Here are four things you might want to consider if you’re thinking about trying therapy.