Table of Contents
Is it OK to not go to therapy?
Even if you normally enjoy therapy, there might be some days when you’re just not feeling it. It’s okay to not want to go to therapy. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to improve your experience—and lots of other ways to improve your mental health outside of therapy. The stigma that only unhappy people seek therapy simply isn’t true. There are over 59 million Americans who turn to therapy to help improve their mental health and to learn healthy habits that will serve them for the rest of their lives! From time to time, you may wonder if it would be okay to make an appointment to see a therapist, not because you’re having a major crisis but just because you need someone to talk to. Psychotherapy can be very helpful even if you don’t have mental illness and aren’t dealing with major losses or problems. A weekly session is a great place to start when beginning therapy. Generally, most patients will start with this frequency, then increase or decrease as needed. A weekly session is ideal for people who want to build skills related to things like mindfulness, coping, and communication.
Is it OK to go to therapy if you’re not depressed?
Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t need to have a diagnosed mental health problem to go to therapy. You also don’t need to be going through a major life crisis to want to speak to someone about an issue that is on your mind. Many people believe therapy is specifically for those who have mental health problems. If you don’t know what to talk about in therapy, some things to consider talking about include recent life events, relationships, traumas, and more. Although therapists are not obligated to show concern, care, or love to their clients, you should look for one that does. Find someone who wants to truly understand you, takes consideration of your whole context, and can empathize. The process of therapy may cause you to experience uncomfortable or painful feelings, such as sadness, guilt, anxiety, anger, or frustration. Counseling may bring up painful memories. It might disrupt relationships. Types of Therapy It is possible for people to change their personality traits, habits, behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes, often with the help of therapeutic interventions.
Is it worth going to therapy?
The Value in Therapy Surpasses Monetary Value. Some research shows that psychotherapy (also known as talk therapy) is effective for up to 75% of people. It can improve the behaviors and emotions that are negatively impacting your mental health. About 75 percent of people who enter psychotherapy show some benefit from it. Psychotherapy has been shown to improve emotions and behaviors and to be linked with positive changes in the brain and body. Anywhere from 50 to 75 percent of people who go to therapy report some benefit—but at least 5 percent of clients get worse as a result of treatment. (For people from marginalized groups, harmful outcomes may be even more common.) The number of recommended sessions varies by condition and treatment type, however, the majority of psychotherapy clients report feeling better after 3 months; those with depression and anxiety experience significant improvement after short and longer time frames, 1-2 months & 3-4. Research asking patients what they think about their therapists’ tears is scant. In a 2015 study in Psychotherapy, researchers Ashley Tritt, MD, Jonathan Kelly, and Glenn Waller, PhD, surveyed 188 patients with eating disorders and found that about 57 percent had experienced their therapists crying.
Should I cancel therapy if I have nothing to talk about?
Nope! In fact, there are a lot of benefits to coming into therapy when you feel like you have nothing to talk about. Believe it or not, those can actually be some of the richest and most productive sessions! Psychotherapy is, for the most part, confidential. Patients of mental health providers like psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers reasonably expect that their in-therapy disclosures will remain private. Speaking to a therapist for professional help might be a good idea if you’re really struggling with having no friends. Some people who don’t have a support system in place start to withdraw from society, and they feel like they’re all alone or forsaken. You don’t dread your sessions (maybe you even look forward to them!) Opening up to a stranger can feel foreign at first. But with time and as the relationship with your therapist develops, this should start feeling easier. You might even find that you start looking forward to your sessions. The vast majority of therapy clients—as many as 93 percent, according to one study—lie to their therapist at least occasionally, research finds. Common lies include minimizing the severity of problems, pretending to be more positive or hopeful than was accurate, or concealing past regrets.
Why do most people avoid therapy?
Individuals fear judgment, change, the unknown, and what they might discover in therapy; additionally, they’re too prideful to admit they need help. Additionally, some people doubt the efficacy of mental health treatment: They’re uncertain it will work or misunderstand how it works. Back to Fictional Reader’s question about why it may be difficult to look a therapist in the eyes. Some possible root causes range from guilt, shame, anxiety, low self-esteem, shyness, past abuse, depression or autistic spectrum disorders to varying cultural norms and cognitive overload. One adult in eight (12.1%) receives mental health treatment, with 10.4% receiving medication and 3% receiving psychological therapy. The overlap within the statistics is due to 1.3% of those receiving treatment reporting receiving both medication and psychological therapy. The short answer is that you can tell your therapist anything – and they hope that you do. It’s a good idea to share as much as possible, because that’s the only way they can help you.