8 Truths About Therapy

Sep 9, 2015
3 min read

From the outside, therapy can be a mystery. What is it, anyway? Who benefits? Who goes to therapy? Here, we’ve included the inside scoop. Some truths about therapy to clear up some of the mystery.

Therapy takes courage – We live in a society that values facts and numbers, not emotions and relationships. We are taught from a young age that being tough means being unaffected by emotion; staying strong means keeping it together and never being vulnerable. This couldn’t be further from the truth! It takes courage to jump in head first toward a more rewarding life. It takes courage to be unaccepting of the status quo, unaccepting of mediocre. It takes courage to push yourself to be the best version of you possible.
Change is scary – OK, here’s the bad news. Change can be terrifying. By nature, change is uncertain and it is normal to be afraid. However, once you jump in and start trying things differently, you might find change to be addictive! Once you start to recognize your own power and capabilities, change becomes less scary and more fun. If it wasn’t scary, you wouldn’t need courage (see number 1)!
Change happens outside of therapy walls- Let’s be honest. A lot of people think they know about therapy from what they’ve seen on TV. Here’s a surprise: It is NOTHING like what you see on TV. Sure, we may have a couch. You may even lay on it. But good therapy does not put you to sleep. Therapy is a verb, an action. Most of the progress you will see happens as a result of your effort outside of our therapy walls.
You learn your worth – When I was 8, I got a shiny new bicycle for Christmas. I loved how it sparkled. I couldn’t imagine a better gift. After a few summers, rain storms, dents, and neglect it became rusty. That bike never lost it’s worth to me, I loved it for where it took me and the adventures I had with it. Just like my bike, life can leave layers of rust. It can strip us of our confidence, highlight our flaws, and make us feel unworthy. Soon, this “rust” can become our whole identity. Therapy helps you peel away these rusty outer layers and find the shiny bike that still exists. I couldn’t imagine a better gift.
Change is contagious – Inevitably, clients are surprised to learn that people treat them differently when they begin to treat themselves different. Love him or hate him, good old Dr. Phil’s preaches “we teach others how to treat us”. If you don’t see your worth, nobody else will. If you treat yourself bad, chances are some people in your life will think that’s OK and follow suit. When you start to feel better about yourself, people become curious. They may find it inspiring, confusing, maybe comforting. Although he wasn’t a therapist, Albert Einstein once said “nothing happens until something moves”. We’re not scientists but it seems like good logic to us.
You’re not crazy- We cannot count the many times we have met a client who says “you’re going to think I’m crazy”. We promise you, WE DO NOT. We don’t think you’re crazy, dysfunctional, stupid, or any other awful adjective. We DO think you’re brave (see number 1), insightful, powerful, and resilient. And for the record, is crazy really all that bad?
Your therapist cares about you – For some people, the idea of talking to a paid professional can be unsettling. Here is one thing we can say for a fact: we got into this field because we care about helping people. There is no other way to describe it. It takes a lot of classes, training, thousands of hours of supervised practice, feedback, self-reflection, and constant growth to work as a professional counselor. We are invested in this process and we are invested in you.
Your therapist is imperfect – Well, the secret’s out of the bag. We don’t know everything. Far from it. We are constantly learning about ourselves, learning from clients, learning from life. Remember what we mentioned about our own self-growth earlier (7)? How about change being contagious (5)? We will constantly strive to learn as therapists and constantly strive to learn from the brave ways you choose to take control of your life! We are on this journey with you.