Jessica Alba recalls the incident that made her pursue therapy with her daughter: 'Am not perfect'

The need for therapy is nothing to be ashamed of. However, due to its lack of awareness, many people get uncomfortable at the thought of it or even fail to recognize the symptoms that are a call for therapy. Actor and mom Jessica Alba shared how she and her daughter felt the need to pursue therapy after a particular incident. The actor told the REAL SIMPLE's first ever Feelings Issue about how her mental health has been working and how therapy has been of help for her and her daughter. Alba who is mom to two daughters, Haven and Honor, also pointed out that they were part of the reason why she was influenced to go to therapy.

The actor shared that therapy creates a more "compassionate container" for people to live. "I go to therapy so I can be kinder toward people I don't always agree with because I want to be happy," she said. Alba also spoke about how it is hard for empaths to feel okay, given certain situations and scenarios of the time and that therapy offers solace and procedures to help live in harmony and alignment with other things. Alba then pointed out that she considered therapy after a certain incident with her daughter Honor. She mentioned that the then 11-year-old and she would often have arguments over "dumb stuff."

"I was like, I don't want to live like this. This is not fun. I didn't want us to have a wedge between us," Alba recalled. She then highlighted that she felt the need to mend her bond with her daughter as her mother. "As her mother, when I say something, she's going to hear it as an argument or as me trying to control her," she said. She also mentioned the need to have someone to explain things in a way that didn't carry conflict and would help make her bond with her daughter stronger through understanding. Alba then decided to go ahead with therapy for both her and her daughter. 

"What I said to Honor was, 'I want to be a better parent to you and this is your forum to basically talk about everything that gets on your nerves that I do,'" Alba recalled. She also mentioned how therapy not only toned down the argumentative state and bond but also helped find another perspective on the entire situation. It worked great for the mom and her daughters. Alba said that her daughter was able to see that "she's not the bad guy, she's just being a parent" and Alba was able to understand that it's okay for parents and kids to have a little banter and disagreements.

"And the therapist allowed me to see that it’s natural for kids to disagree with their parents, and as a parent, it’s not always about being right or rational in that moment. I’m not gonna front, it’s a process and I’m not perfect," the actor said. Alba further made a strong case for therapy by saying that it's a "valuable tool to help process your feelings." Adding more, Alba said, "Therapy gets you talking about what's going on with you and unearths the things that aren't feeling the best or might be confusing or things that make you happy." Simply unpacking and putting all the feelings out there seem to be doing more than enough to ease things.