Have you ever wondered exactly what therapy is for? If you’ve never been, therapy can seem like a big mystery. You might be asking yourself a few things:
- Why do people go to therapy?
- Are my problems “big enough” to go to therapy?
- Is therapy only for “crazy” people?
- Do I need to have a mental health diagnosis to go to therapy?
- What’s the point of going to therapy?
Here’s the thing: Anyone can benefit from therapy, no matter how “big” or “small” your problems or emotions feel. It’s a form of self-care that can change your life for the better.
Key takeaways
- A licensed therapist provides clients with a safe space to talk about their concerns and mental health struggles. They teach you how to cope with difficult situations and help build healthy behaviors.
- Therapy can help you reduce anxiety and stress by addressing all of the symptoms, including the physical, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive ones.
- Therapy can help you address your depression by crafting a tailored treatment plan. It’s also great for treating trauma and PTSD.
- Beyond mental health, therapy can help you improve your relationships, break unhealthy habits, and just help you navigate every day life.
- Therapy can be especially useful for those struggling with addiction.
What is therapy?
Psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, is a service provided by a mental health professional. Through talking and interacting in the context of a therapeutic relationship with a licensed and trained clinician, therapists helps clients work through struggles with emotions, thought patterns, and behaviors.
A licensed therapist is a non-judgemental professional who can provide expert care in a safe space. Whatever you talk about in a therapy session is confidential. A therapist can help you overcome a wide variety of mental health concerns, teaching you beneficial coping mechanisms and helping you build healthy thoughts and behaviors.
How you know it’s time to go to therapy
“Clients can decide to seek therapy under any circumstances, whether it’s needing support, processing challenging life events, or because they are noticing that they are experiencing distressing or uncomfortable symptoms that could warrant a diagnosis and further treatment,” says Dr. Katia Arroyo-Carrion, a licensed clinical psychologist with Grow Therapy.
Essentially, if your mental health struggles or concerns are disrupting your work, school, relationships, health, sleep, or quality of life –– seeking help is a good idea. People around the world go to therapy for these common reasons:
Reason #1 – Anxiety and stress
Whether it’s due to work, school, relationships, family life, or health, stress can take a toll on mental health. Everyday stressors can cause you to feel tense, on edge, irritable, and unable to relax. This stress can affect your mental and physical health.
On top of coping with “normal” stress, some people struggle with anxiety disorders. These are some of the most common mental health conditions, affecting more than 40 million US adults. Anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), panic disorder, and phobias.
The symptoms of anxiety are broad, and aren’t always easy to recognize. They can include, but are not limited to:
- Emotional symptoms – Feelings of apprehension, dread, panic, and uneasiness
- Physical symptoms – Muscle tension, sweating, headaches, digestive problems, and racing heart
- Cognitive symptoms – Inability to stop worrying, ruminating, and difficulty concentrating
- Behavioral symptoms – Jumpiness, restlessness, irritability, avoidance, and social withdrawal
Therapy for stress and anxiety
A therapist can teach you stress and anxiety management tools like coping strategies and relaxation techniques. You can learn to identify anxiety triggers and underlying causes of anxiety, building resilience and moving forward.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most common anxiety therapies, but depending on your specific symptoms, therapists might also use:
Reason # 2 – Depression
Depression, also known as major depressive disorder is a common mood disorder. In 2021, an estimated 21 million adults in the US — 8.3% of the population — experienced a major depressive episode. Depression is a lot more than just feeling sad. Other symptoms of depression include:
- Feeling empty
- Losing interest in things you used to enjoy
- Fatigue
- Insomnia or oversleeping
- Feeling worthless
- Irritability
- Unexplained aches and pains
- Thinking about death or suicide
People struggling with depression often have an extremely hard time with everyday functioning — such as home, work, or school — and overall quality of life. Seeking help for symptoms of depression is important.
Therapy for depression
In therapy for depression, “clients will learn about the diagnosis, obtain coping skills, and adhere to a treatment plan that will be focused on improving their symptoms,” Dr. Arroyo-Carrion says. Common types of therapy for depression are:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Interpersonal therapy (IPT)
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
Reason #3 – Trauma and PTSD
Francine Shapiro, the creator of EMDR therapy, talked about trauma in terms of “big T” and “little t” trauma. Big T trauma events are ones traditionally viewed as traumatic: major car accidents, war combat, or sexual assault. Little T trauma includes experiences that people may not see as a “big deal,” yet they still affect people deeply — things like being bullied, rejected, or having legal troubles. Trauma is in the eye of the beholder. It doesn’t matter if other people see something as traumatic — what matters is whether or not the person it happened to is experiencing detrimental effects on their physical and mental health, such as:
- Flashbacks
- Difficulty relaxing
- Trouble feeling positive emotions
Therapy for trauma and PTSD
Trauma-informed therapy facilitates healing. Processing your trauma can change your life. On top of CBT, trauma-specific therapies that can treat PTSD symptoms include:
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
- Prolonged exposure therapy (PE)
- Somatic therapy
Members of marginalized communities who suffer from race-based traumatic stress (RBTS) might choose to opt for a therapist with a similar background to ensure their experiences are fully understood.
Reason #4 – Grief and loss
Coping with the loss of a loved one is never easy. The five stages of grief –– denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance –– are difficult to move through alone. You might feel like your world has been flipped upside down and have trouble functioning. Even non-death-related losses — like breakups, divorces, or other major life changes — can result in grief.
Therapy for grief and loss
“Grief therapy focuses on allowing the client to process the thoughts and emotions that may arise after experiencing a loss,” Dr. Arroyo-Carrion says. “Sessions include education about the stages of grief, identifying thoughts that get in the way of processing the bereavement, and helping the client move forward after having experienced loss in their life.”
Ultimately, grief counseling offers emotional support while helping to rebuild a sense of purpose and healing after loss.
Reason #5 – Addiction and substance abuse
Addiction or substance misuse, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, or other substances, can wreak havoc on mental health and personal relationships, creating problems in all aspects of life. The same is true for behavioral addictions, such as gambling, pornography, or shopping. It’s also common for substance use disorders to occur at the same time as other mental health conditions. Therapy is an effective intervention for when someone is struggling with more than one mental health condition at the same time.
Therapy for addiction and substance abuse
Therapy can help you improve impulse control, build healthy habits, identify underlying causes for your substance abuse, and create relapse prevention strategies. Some therapy approaches are:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Motivational interviewing
- Group therapy
For people who aren’t yet ready to get sober, harm reduction is an important approach to prevent people from overdosing and other life-threatening situations associated with substance use. Spreading awareness about harm reduction can improve and even save lives, as people often think that professional help for substance use requires an “all or nothing” approach to sobriety.
Reason #6 – Personal growth and self-discovery
Even if you don’t have a mental health condition or specific symptoms you struggle with, you can still benefit from therapy. Many people engage with therapy as a tool to get to know themselves better, identify goals and purpose in life, build emotional intelligence, and improve overall well-being.
Therapy for personal growth and self-discovery
A mental health professional can help you:
- Enhance self-awareness
- Explore your values and beliefs
- Clarify life goals (career, personal, family, and more)
- Find personal fulfillment
- Regularly practice self-care
- Build self-esteem
Reason #7 – Navigating life transitions
Life transitions, such as divorce, job change, moving, or major health diagnoses, often come along with a lot of stress. Even new phases of life, like parenthood, retirement, or empty-nesting, bring about a lot of emotions. Mixed feelings surrounding major life changes, like stress, anxiety, and uncertainty, can be overwhelming to cope with alone. For many people, it’s hard to manage these complex feelings without professional support.
Therapy for navigating life transitions
“Therapy provides a non-judgmental, supportive, and validating space to address the emotions that may arise from life transitions,” says Dr. Arroyo-Carrion. “It can also provide coping skills to manage the changes and empowerment to advocate for your needs.” Your therapist will help you adapt to new roles and identities during these transitions.
Reason #8 – Breaking unhealthy patterns
Sometimes, there are things we want to change in life, but we struggle to put our finger on what they are or why. Or, you might be very aware of your unhealthy patterns — such as people pleasing, defensiveness, unwillingness to compromise or communicate — but don’t know how to break them. No matter the type of pattern or behavior you want to break, therapy can help.
Therapy for breaking unhealthy patterns
A therapist will help you identify your unhealthy patterns and teach you the following:
- How to shift harmful thinking and negative self-talk with CBT
- Techniques to challenge unhelpful beliefs and create more positive ones
- Tools for building healthier mental habits and mindsets
- Impulse control to avoid falling into unhealthy patterns again
Reason #9 – Improving relationships
Relationships have a huge impact on your overall well-being, whether that’s relationships with family members, friends, or a romantic partner. Unhealthy relationships and relationship issues can be sources of anxiety and sadness.
No matter what relationship or relationships you’re struggling with, therapy can help you form healthier ones.
Therapy for improving relationships
Depending on your unique situation, you can try individual therapy, couples therapy, or even family therapy. Regardless, a therapist can help you:
- Improve communication skills
- Identify patterns in relationships you may not have otherwise seen or been able to address
- Learn healthy conflict-resolution skills
- Build empathy
- Improve intimacy
Reason #10 – Reducing loneliness and isolation
Loneliness is extremely common, with one in ten people reporting that they feel lonely every day. Signs of loneliness include:
- Sadness
- Depressed mood
- Feeling disconnected or distant from others
- Feeling isolated
It’s important to address these feelings since social isolation and feeling lonely are risk factors for mental health issues like depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and substance abuse. Loneliness can even increase your risk of physical health concerns like high blood pressure and heart disease.
Therapy for reducing loneliness and isolation
Feeling heard and understood by a therapist can reduce your sense of isolation. They can help you develop strategies to reduce social isolation and loneliness. Plus, you can address symptoms of any mental health conditions that might have arisen due to loneliness.
Ready to find a therapist?
There are so many benefits of therapy and countless ways it can help you with your emotional well-being. No matter what you’re struggling with, the transformative power of therapy lies in its ability to foster growth, healing, and resilience.
Looking for a therapist who meets your unique needs? Grow Therapy can help you find the right therapist for you. On our site, you can use our filters to search for potential therapists in your state who accept your insurance and specialize in your concerns. Get started today.
