Why You Should Start Therapy: Debunking the Most Common Myths
By Savannah Walker, LPC
I think therapy has come a long way. More people openly talk about therapy as our society has worked to normalize mental healthcare. However, there’s still a lot of resistance, often stemming from common (and often misled) beliefs about therapy and what therapy entails. Much like some of the work we do in therapy, I want to dedicate some time to work through misconceptions to contribute to the discussion around therapy.
Here are the most common misconceptions I have heard:
- I could just talk to friends/hair stylist/barber/nail tech/etc.
I think we believe this one more than we realize. I have scrolled through social media enough to see some service professionals half-jokingly claiming that therapy is part of their job description.
While yes, it can be very refreshing to talk to someone as they refresh your locks, it’s not the same as therapy. Sure, they might be good listeners, but there’s a lot more to therapy than listening and giving our two cents. [see “Therapy is just talking/advice” below]
- I could just go to the gym/go outside/take care of myself.
Look! You’re on the right track! Like Jim Carrey said, “… if you don’t exercise, eat nutritious food, get sunlight, consume positive material, surround yourself with support, then you aren’t giving yourself a fighting chance.” As much as that is an over-simplification of mental health struggles, there are a lot of benefits to taking care of yourself. However, there’s much more to it. If you can deadlift your own bodyweight, but still feel inferior and avoid every social interaction you can, then the deadlift isn’t helping much, is it? Your skincare may be on point, but do you still spiral every time you receive negative feedback from your boss? Good for you for drinking water, but let’s work on the fact that you feel like everyone is mad at you for simply existing. Just some examples…
Self-care and healthy habits are a piece of the puzzle. An important piece, but just a piece of a bigger picture of your mental health.
- Therapy means something is wrong with me/I’m broken.
You say broken, but I call that “being human”. Humans are shaped by their experiences, relationships, stress, culture… all of it. So of course, you may have developed some habits that once helped you but no longer serve you. That’s adaptation.
Much like some of us have asthma, arthritis, allergies, or poor eyesight, sometimes we have some differences in how our brain functions. That’s ok! Therapy can help you understand it to work towards acceptance so that you can thrive.
If anything, choosing therapy is a very functional decision, not a broken one. It means you’re aware enough of yourself to take control of your life and get out of your comfort zone.
- I’m stuck with a therapist I don’t like.
It’s tempting to think therapy isn’t for you because you didn’t vibe with your therapist. However, you’re allowed to look around and find someone. There are a lot of aspects to therapy: the approach we take, the energy we bring, our own personalities, and areas of expertise, to name a few. Therapy works best when you have good rapport with your therapist!
- I don’t want to dig up the past and blame everything on my parents.
Then don’t.
This is a bit of an outdated take on therapy. Even in trauma processing, we aren’t there to blame everything on your past, we work to understand it to grow from it when it’s holding you back. Additionally, many therapeutic approaches aren’t focused on history, but more here and now.
- Therapy is just talking/advice.
Yes and no. Yes, we talk. However, it’s not casual venting and definitely not advice-giving. Wouldn’t it be funny if we went to grad school to learn how to “just talk” to people?
Studies have shown that therapy interventions can actually change your brain chemistry (over time, of course). So, think of therapy like a build-a-brain workshop. If you could tweak something in your thought process and behavior, what would you change? That’s where therapy starts. We don’t tell you what to do. We help you understand what you’re already doing and help you decide what you want to do with that information.
We take many approaches to achieving this. Often times, therapy feels like casual conversation until you look back and realize that you’ve made a lot of meaningful changes in your life.
At the end of the day, therapists are here to help you. Therapy is about getting down to what’s not working in your life and changing it, because you have the power to change it. I often say, “nothing changes unless something changes”. Many of us get stuck in patterns that keep us, well, stuck. Therapy exists to get us unstuck so that you can have the life you want.
Do you have questions about therapy? Are you ready to get started? Let us know!
View the list of our clinicians to see who you feel like you would connect with the most.
Contact us to schedule an appointment now to start goal setting and planning:
📞 847-854-4333