Do I Need Therapy? The Benefits of Therapy

People often feel that they need to go through a life-changing event, suffer trauma, or have a mental health issue to warrant therapy, but this isn’t the case; most people would likely benefit from some form of therapy. Even very successful people embrace therapy for its benefits as being able to talk to an impartial listener who can help offer guidance can be a real benefit to your life.

If you are having issues or concerns, ignoring the symptoms or sweeping them under the rug will not make the problem go away. Talking about your feelings may seem foreign or even wrong to you but not talking about them will lead to other issues down the line. Like with other health issues (for example, diabetes), ignoring the symptoms will often worsen the condition.

Similarly, ignoring stress, depression, or anxiety can lead to serious physical health problems like irritable bowel syndrome, Cohn’s disease, acid reflux, ulcers, problems sleeping, and migraines.

Therapy is hard. It is hard to look at the underlying issues causing distress and then address them. Therapy is not for the weak; it is for people looking to make changes and are willing to work at it.

Benefits of Therapy

• Provides a safe and confidential place to talk about personal issues with a trained practitioner who can help.
• Help reduce depression, anxiety, and stress.
• Physically change the way your brain works by changing brain wiring or patterns.
• Help learn effective and practical coping skills for dealing with everyday life stressors.  
• Improve relationships with oneself or with others.
• Stop using unhelpful coping such as drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
• Process traumatic events and improve post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• Improve life skills.
• Learn and implement healthy behaviors.
• Improve overall physical and mental health.

Types of Therapy:

Psychotherapy (Talk therapy)

Psychotherapy or the psychodynamic approach to therapy helps the individual better understand oneself. The goal is to improve one’s life and relationships and to decrease distress. In psychotherapy, you may talk about the past or current events, and the therapist will help you make connections between your current feelings or past experiences on your thought patterns.

Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for treating anxiety and depression and can be much more effective for treating anxiety and depression than medications. It can also be helpful in understanding and expressing feelings and emotions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is another form of behavioral therapy that involves looking at your dysfunctional behaviors and distress and challenging the negative and irrational thoughts that lead to them. When you do CBT, you learn and practice skills for improving negative thought patterns and behaviors.

CBT was shown to be effective in treating depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and childhood depressive and anxiety disorders. For treating adult depression, CBT was superior to antidepressants.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

DBT is another form of cognitive-behavioral therapy that effectively treats borderline personality disorder, suicidal behavior, substance abuse, and eating disorders. It does this by helping people regulate their emotions in ways that are not self-destructive.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT is another form of behavioral therapy that teaches individuals that sad feelings are an inevitable part of life. Humans can adapt to these by developing psychological flexibility rather than trying to get rid of or suppress these feelings in a counterproductive way.

So Many Options

There are many more forms of therapy that can be beneficial depending on your situation; therapy can be done individually, in a group, as a family, or as a couple. Marriage and family therapy can help to improve communication between members and ultimately improve the relationship.

There are also an increasing amount and variety of online therapy applications. Two of the best rated are TalkSpace and BetterHelp.

Support Groups

Participating in a support group can help you realize that you aren’t in this alone. Support groups are valuable because they can be a safe space to process your feelings and gain support. Support groups reduce loneliness and increase your support system. Many support groups are low cost or free and may be more accessible than therapy for many.

Time to Heal

Therapy is an investment in time, money, and energy, but the benefits of therapy are many, and they are long-lasting. Unlike medication that will wear off once you stop taking them, the tools learned in therapy can be used throughout your lifetime.

Studies have found that the effects of psychotherapy are long term.

Although medications are beneficial and necessary for many, adding therapy along with medications can help increase the benefits in the short and long-term.

If you are interested in looking for a therapist. You can check out Psychology Today for a detailed list of therapists in your area. Go to the main page and then enter your zip code in the search box. You can then sort through therapists by conditions they treat, insurance, gender, type of therapy, price, and several other factors.

Another route is to contact your insurance company to get a list of preferred providers.

The Bottom Line

There are many physical and mental benefits to engaging in therapy and a wide range of forms of therapy to meet your specific need, including psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy. Therapy can be done individually or in a group with many more online therapy options than ever before. If you are interested in learning more about your therapy options, consider looking into available therapists either on Psychology Today or through your insurance company.