There are a lot of misconceptions about what therapy is and how it works. There is a lot of stigma that surrounds mental health, even though at some point in our lives our mental health has been affected by stress, feelings of being overwhelmed, anxious, or depressed. All of these things are a part of the human condition. I am going to go through the top 3 myths regarding therapy in hopes to help reduce the stigma and show how normal and helpful therapy can be.
1. Therapy is for people who are crazy.
I hate the word “crazy” – and anytime someone says that to me, I ask them to define “normal”. Therapy is obviously helpful in severe situations, but it is often really helpful as treatment for mild and moderate problems as well. Often times catching the issues when they are in the mild-moderate stage, helps prevent those issues from spiraling into something severe. A therapist creates a treatment plan designed for you with specific goals in mind, working on what you want. They will help you identify negative thought patterns, help you figure out what’s working and what isn’t, and develop a plan to help you make positive changes. A therapist gives you the tools you need to think about things differently, gain insights into the mind-body connection and helps you manage your negative feelings appropriately.
2. Therapy is a lifelong process.
A good therapist wants you to get better and leave therapy – they want you to use the tools that they have given you. Therapy always has an end goal, and when that goal is met, the therapist begins the process to help you discharge out of therapy. This might be by spacing out sessions more, and then eventual check ins, with a final therapy appointment set up. A lot of therapy for mild-moderate symptoms tends to be solution-focused. That is, the work of the therapist is to help you work towards solutions for the issue that you came in with.
3. Therapy doesn’t work.
Therapy definitely has a bad rap, but it does work and a lot of that is dependent upon the client. During therapy sessions, the therapist is giving the client tools and feedback. They will learn healthy coping strategies, can identify when they start with negative thinking – but it is up to you as the client to practice these skills at home and in between sessions to ensure they work. Studies have shown that emotional and behavioral interventions work just as well, if not better, than medication to help treat anxiety, depression, and trauma. Therapy is an eye-opener, but you have to have an open mind and be willing to work on the issues that you’ve identified in order for therapy to work.
I have a lot of clients that come in unwilling for help because they have these misconceptions about therapy. Once we get started, I explain the process and work with the client on their treatment plan, they can see that therapy can be fun and beneficial. Therapists have been depicted as stone cold, non-emotional parrots who only say things like “how does that make you feel?” in the media. It does not have to be that way. We have personalities, and therapy can be very interactive with the client. Just the other day one of my clients asked if they can draw – so I grabbed some paper and we drew together while talking about some of the issues that came up. I have many clients who tell me that they look forward to their sessions because they have had a bad week, or even when they had a good week – they look forward to tell me how they successfully used the skills that I gave them. Hearing things like that makes it worth it – it is the one of the most rewarding parts of my job. So hopefully if you are reading this you feel a little bit differently about therapy and can see that it has it’s benefits.
Let me know in the comments if you have tried therapy – what are your experiences?
