In the last year, largely due to the ongoing pandemic, more people have sought support and treatment through psychotherapy. Most of my colleagues are booked solid, with a waitlist, and those of us who are still taking clients have limited availability. The fact that more people are seeking professional help for mental health challenges is good news. Deciding to start therapy is a big step, but I consider it equally, if not more important, that people understand therapy so they can commit to the process. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about what it means to be in therapy and what therapy involves. Allow me to dispel some of those myths and provide a more accurate description of what therapy looks like in the real world.
Myth 1: Therapists force you to talk about your past
While some types of therapy are more insight oriented, meaning that you have the opportunity to discuss your past and connect events and relationships to current problems, not all therapy takes this approach. If you are struggling emotionally and seeking help with current circumstances, it’s possible to find a therapist who can help you focus on the here and now. Cognitive-behavior therapy focuses on reframing thoughts and linking thoughts, feelings, and actions. This type of therapy is particularly useful for persons struggling with anxiety, life stress, and coping with difficult circumstances or relationships.
Myth 2: Therapy just means you’re talking to someone and they listen
It is true that therapists provide a safe space for people to talk about what they are going through. But therapy offers much more than talking. Evidence-based approaches, with scientific research behind their effectiveness, provide strategies to help clients feel empowered to improve their own mental health. Many modern approaches also include helping clients learn to get better control over their emotions, so they feel more balanced and capable of making good choices. Another important goal is to help clients break cycles of behavior that contribute to negative thoughts and feelings, and that affect the quality of their relationships.
Myth 3: Therapy is supposed to make you feel better
Although one of the goals might be to have more positive thoughts and feelings, going to therapy doesn’t always make you feel better right away. Sometimes, early on, people report feeling worse after therapy sessions. This may be because they discussed hard circumstances, loss of a relationship, or other events that produced sadness and discouragement. It’s not until clients express feelings and learn strategies for managing intense emotions that they begin to feel better. Therapy is its own journey, rather than a linear progression to better mental health.
Myth 4: Only people with serious problems should go to therapy
People pursue therapy for any number of reasons. It’s not necessary to experience serious mental health conditions to seek therapeutic support. If you find a therapist with whom you connect well and you’re able to open up about your experiences, therapy can be beneficial to most people at some point in their lives. It’s intended to be an opportunity to self-examine your feelings and behavior, to explore patterns in relationships that you might want to change, or to grow personally as you transition to a new stage in life. In addition, going to therapy to self-explore or to address mild stressors can prevent problems from developing into greater emotional distress that disrupts every day life.
Myth 5: Therapy is too expensive
On a more practical note, let’s talk about the cost of therapy. It isn’t true that therapy is not covered by insurance or that it’s cost prohibitive. Many insurance carriers do cover a portion of the cost. Some providers are in network with the major carriers like Blue Cross or Aetna. Providers who do not file claims will still help you with paperwork that you can file on your own if you have out of network benefits. More importantly, you must ask yourself what is the cost of not going to therapy if you are struggling with anxiety, depression, or other significant challenges that are disrupting your quality of life. Therapy can be a form of self-care like no other.
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