Despite increased mental health awareness, therapy is still shrouded in stigma and negative stereotypes. Many people consider it a last resort rather than a path to healing and self-discovery. Aditi Bajpai knows this firsthand — not just as a therapist, but as someone who has navigated trauma herself. In an exclusive interview with Mahevash Muses, she opens up about her journey from survivor to therapist, the transformative power of therapy, and her work at The 3AM Couch.
1. Tell us about your journey. What motivated you to become a mental health therapist?
Becoming a therapist wasn’t just a career path for me. It was a decision to become the person I needed when I was younger. My father left without any explanation when I was two. My mother, only 22, had to rely on her parents to take care of me, perhaps believing they could give me what she could not. She did what she could, but survival rarely allows room for warmth.
Neglect was the language of my childhood, apathy was its background music, and abuse was a major part of my life.
I was left alone in moments when I needed comfort. Neighbors and relatives, people I was told to trust, became the reason I struggled to exist. I spent my childhood scrubbing my skin raw, trying to wash away the invisible stains of their touch. My childhood was a battlefield where I learned how to survive in silence. And in that silence, I learned that unspoken pain does not disappear. It festers.
For years, suicide was my shadow.
At four years old, I attempted to end my life for the first time. The attempts did not stop for seventeen years.
But then, I lost people I loved to the very thing I was trying to do to myself. Their absence created a silence heavier than my pain. And for the first time, I asked myself: What if I could help others step back from the ledge?
I did not just study psychology, I devoured it. In that process, I found a purpose: The 3AM Couch.
The 3AM Couch is a space for people like me, for the ones carrying memories too heavy to bear. It is a space where no one has to wonder if their pain is “enough” to deserve help. Trauma doesn’t disappear, but healing helps you live with it. And that’s what I do: I help people reclaim their stories.
2. Are there any red and green flags one should look out for before committing to a therapist? How does one know they have found the right fit?
Therapy is more than just a process, it is a relationship. The connection between a therapist and a client is one of the most intimate spaces that exists. It is a space where vulnerability must be met with safety. A therapist should never make you feel small.
If a therapist dismisses your emotions, if they tell you to “just think positive,” if they make you feel like you are “too much,” they are not the right fit for you. If they talk more than they listen, if they impose their values onto your experiences, if they make therapy about their worldview rather than your healing, then that is a place you do not need to be in. Healing is hard enough without having to justify your pain.
The right therapist will create a space where you feel heard – not just spoken to, not just responded to, but truly heard.
They will meet you where you are, not try to force you into a predefined mold. They will gently challenge your thoughts but never invalidate them. The right therapist will push you toward growth and never make you feel ashamed of where you are. They will make sure to learn all about you and ensure you receive the best possible care.
If therapy has failed you before, do not let it be the reason you give up on yourself. A bad therapist does not mean therapy is not for you. It just means you have not found the right person yet. Keep searching.
3. As the founder of The 3AM Couch, you interact with people from diverse backgrounds. What do you do to ensure that every client is comfortable enough to open up in a session?
Healing begins with belonging, it is not meant to be done in isolation. We spend so much of our lives searching for places where we can exist without apology. Spaces where we do not have to justify our emotions, where we do not have to prove our pain is “bad enough” to deserve attention. Too often, we are met with dismissal. Too often, our experiences are brushed aside, reduced to inconvenience, labelled as weaknesses.
At The 3AM Couch, there is no dismissal or minimizing. There is only validation.
I create a space where people can speak their rawest truths without fear. I do not approach therapy with assumptions, nor do I believe in fitting people into rigid therapeutic models. Instead, I listen carefully. I observe. I tailor my approach to the person in front of me. Therapy at The 3AM Couch is integrative, combining Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy, mindfulness practices, psychodynamic exploration, and other possible modules. But more than that, it is deeply human.
Beyond therapy, we offer support groups for those addressing grief, trauma, caregiving, and burnout. Sometimes, simply knowing that others understand your pain is the first step toward healing.
We also offer psychoeducation workshops and self-help resources for those who may not yet be ready for therapy but want to take the first step toward understanding themselves. We offer guidance and support for caregivers, because the weight of holding others can be unbearable when you have no one to hold you in return.
And for those who struggle the most in the silence of the night, we offer India’s first day-night counseling service.
Because mental health crises do not follow a schedule. Pain does not wait for the morning. And no one should have to face their darkest moments alone.
4. What do you wish more people understood about mental health?
Mental health is not a destination or something you achieve. It is not a battle you win and walk away from, unscathed. Instead, it is something you tend to routinely, something you hold with care.
Too many people believe that therapy is only for the broken. That you must be in crisis to deserve help. That if you are not at rock bottom, then your pain is not valid enough. These are lies.
Everyone has mental health.
Mental health exists in all of us. It is not something you only pay attention to when it starts to crumble. You do not wait for a heart attack to start taking care of your body. So why wait for a breakdown to take care of your mind?
Healing does not mean you erase your past. It does not mean you wake up one day and feel brand new. Healing means you learn how to carry your pain differently. It means you permit yourself to exist as you are. And most importantly, it means understanding that you are not alone. You belong. You always have. And you always will.
Aditi Bajpai is a psychologist, academic mentor, and freelance writer specializing in academic, educational content, and e-commerce listings. Exploring the intersection of psychology, anthropology, and philosophy, she helps individuals reclaim their thoughts and narratives through her work at The 3AM Couch.
