6 Ways Therapy Can Benefit Everyone

Even if you aren’t in therapy yourself, you probably know someone who is because more and more people are seeking the professional help that it provides.

A therapist acts as a sounding board, reflecting what you say back to you so you hear it with clarity.  They’ve been compared to impartial mirrors of sorts because they allow their clients to get a good look at themselves and their issues.  The result, overall, is better understanding and an increased ability to cope. Although not everyone in therapy necessarily feels such benefits (possibly due to a poor relationship with their therapist, lack of motivation, or putting in minimal effort), that doesn’t change the fact that the potential to be helped by therapy is there and strong.

If you’ve never seen a therapist, it might be difficult to understand what all the fuss is about.  Or, you might be unsure of how to support a friend or loved one who sees one. After all, you probably don’t even know what goes on in a therapist’s office.  In this article, I’m going to explain therapy and go through the ways it can benefit everyone.

1. To Feel Less Alone

I think at one point or another, everyone has felt alone in the world.  And no one can deny how hard it is to feel lost in the crowd, to feel unseen or unheard, to feel trapped in isolation.  Therapy helped me to see that when I feel lonely, I need to reach out to those around me; I know I’m loved, but when I’m struggling and need extra support, I can’t expect everyone to just know that.  Additionally, therapy helps people communicate better which in turn helps people have meaningful conversations that start friendships. It can also help get you to realize why being with just yourself is so uncomfortable because in many cases, it’s because avoiding intense emotions is harder to do when alone.  Finally, your therapist is there for you, there to support you, and knowing someone is completely on your side is endlessly helpful in the face of loneliness.

2. To Grow Your Confidence

Confidence is a key component of mental health because it is reflected in how we feel about who we are.  It can help us become happier, healthier, and even more successful, and without it, the quality of our lives suffer.  But believing in and trusting yourself doesn’t always come naturally. Self-assurance takes effort. Working on it in a therapeutic setting can actually help you gain confidence.  When I’m being hard on myself, my therapist reminds me not to think so negatively about myself. She’ll remind me how important it is to have “positive self-talk,” because our thoughts become real if we continually think them.  And on top of telling me good things she notices about me, she’ll have me think of good things I’ve noticed about myself. Sometimes that push is all we need to start feeling confident.

3. To Become More Self-Aware

Self-awareness is all about understanding your thoughts and feelings and having conscious knowledge about who you are as a person.  It can improve your life by making sense of what’s going on inside of you, which empowers you to do what’s best for you (or at the very least, discern why doing something feels so hard).  It also helps you build upon strengths, communicate more effectively, make better decisions, and think more clearly. One way therapists lead us to self-awareness is by “reality checking” our thoughts to see if they are true within reality.  For example, when I say I’m a failure, my therapist might ask me to imagine I’m one of my friends and ask me to describe myself she would. From there, I’m able to think about myself more clearly and be more self-aware. 

4. To Process Underlying Emotions

Some parts of our pasts, particularly tricky ones, require extra mental energy to process and understand.  If you don’t do anything with the feelings and emotions they leave you with, they back up in your mind and impact your present-day feelings and emotions.  Therapy teaches you that you can move on from pent-up mental stress and begin to grow. It’s just a matter of figuring out what it all means and dealing with it in healthy, productive ways.  Therapy helps you begin that ongoing process in a safe, secure space. If the emotions to be processed are causing significant problems, therapists might even give non-directive advice (they’ll never tell you what you should do; they aren’t solving your problems, they’re helping you solve your problems for yourself!).

5. To Work Through Difficult Situations

Life isn’t always easy (most people learn this truth early on).  As we walk down the road of life we’re bound to come across challenges and obstacles that get in our way.  They cause us to stagger, and that’s normal! That’s why they’re called challenges. So who wouldn’t want help overcoming those difficult situations we face?  A large part of what therapists do is analyze the issues affecting their clients’ lives. Basically, they take present life circumstances and “talk it out” together, most likely by coming up with answers to questions.  How do you feel about what’s happening? Why is this situation so difficult? What do you think would help? Will what’s going on right now still be important in five years? Thus, by talking and asking questions and getting things in perspective, therapists become guides through obstacles and crises.

6. To Cope With Loss

Any kind of loss, particularly death, involves a lot of emotional suffering.  And when something important or someone you love is taken away from you, it can be hard to come to terms with.  Having support is crucial during these times. Group therapy is an ideal way to start to heal. It’s a place where others who can relate to your struggle get together and share advice, tips, and realizations, as well as acknowledge each other’s pain and accomplishments in the face of it all.  Even one-on-one therapy is helpful in the face of loss because it’s a place to begin to accept grief and understand the process of healing.

Many people forego getting help with the above things, the things we all struggle with, due to the stigmatized views attached to it or because they believe therapy is only for people with mental illnesses.  This is why talking about therapy in daily life is important! It would be a shame to avoid something that might benefit you for fear of judgment that isn’t justified or due to misinformation.

I’m not saying that everyone must go to therapy as a requirement because it’s helpful; rather, I’m hoping to shed light on the wonderful and transformative processes that can happen on the other side of a therapist’s door.  Because in the end, even if you’re unsure of what you’ll get out of it, if you decide to go to therapy you’ll most likely find great value in it.