The 3 main benefits of seeking therapy

Many people are still under the misapprehension that counselling is for the ‘weak’. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Not only do successful people not fear therapy, they embrace it. Psychotherapy is a tool that creates success. Smart people use it. And therapy is not just something that smart people use, it’s something that almost everybody should probably try at least some point in their lives. 

Here’s why.

Many of us grew up under the impression that ‘internal stuff’ shouldn’t be discussed – it should be swept under the carpet. This is perhaps the single worst thing you can do for yourself. 

Suppressing your emotions and not working through any psychological issues you have – especially serious pain or abuse in the past – can culminate in a host of problems. 

If you need evidence to convince you, depression alone is a major player in the global burden of disease, the leading cause of disability worldwide, and responsible for billions of pounds a year in lost work.

I feel the beauty of talk therapy, especially forms like psychodynamic, is that it addresses not just the symptoms but also the causes of one’s problems. Antidepressants, though essential for some people, don’t necessarily address the underlying source. 

If you’re not getting to the cause of the pain, you’re essentially chained to the past. Psychotherapy can get to the roots of the issue.

Research shows that therapy is incredibly effective in helping people manage mental health conditions, and experts say that it’s worth it even if you don’t have a medical problem. 

If you still need convincing, here are three reasons why you should give counselling a go:

1. Therapy has long-term benefits

A huge benefit of therapy is that its effects are long lasting. This is because you’re not only working through issues in the past or present, but you’re also developing the tools to help you deal with future stuff. 

Psychodynamic treatment is durable over the years. The positive gains continue and grow over time as some of the work gets further consolidated after therapy stops. 

This makes sense to me because it suggests that we continue to use the reflective lens in thinking about, talking about and expressing feelings about our inner lives after we end therapy. 

The whole talking-with-the-therapist process gets internalised so that self-therapy picks up where the actual therapy leaves off.

Though medication may be essential for some, it does run the risk of relapse after it’s discontinued. The "getting-to-the-cause" aspect of therapy is a big reason why antidepressants and therapy together are believed to be most effective.

2. Supressed emotions will come back to haunt you later 

The most serious drawback of not talking about things may be that unexpressed feelings and traumas can pile up and explode later. 

Lots of people avoid talking about their feelings about a whole host of things. But supressing or damping down one’s feelings doesn’t make the feelings go away. If anything, they linger and fester, only to explode when an innocuous comment is made. 

Even if you don’t have a full-on breakdown later on, not fully processing events and emotions often creates negative thought patterns that can inform every area in your life – your relationships with your partner, parents, children, colleagues, and even yourself. 

So learning how to process them can change how you manoeuvre in many different ways.

3. It will give you a whole new perspective on other people, too

An excellent benefit of therapy is that it not only helps you understand yourself better but it helps you understand other people. 

When we hold fixed thoughts in without processing them, they become ingrained so that we see the world through that lens – and we make lots of assumptions that may or may not be true. 

In my work with people in psychoanalytically-oriented therapy, they come to see how they often make assumptions about what the other person intended. Then, when they actually do a reality check by asking a friend what they were thinking when they said something, they are often surprised to hear they had a totally different take. 

Without the clutter of your own (often mistaken) assumptions, it’s a lot easier to understand others’ intentions and motivations.

Give it a go

People are starting to open up more about their personal struggles and mental health issues. The stigma seems to be fading, if slowly. 

If you feel therapy would benefit you, go for it. And if you are reluctant, talk with friends – they will be grateful you opened up and it may give them the green light to do the same. 

Whichever option you choose, the chances are it will help kick off some important conversations.

Sophia England, Psychotherapist, Newtown Counselling