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There are a lot of reasons why people go to therapy. Therapy is a safe place to speak your mind, and a trained professional listen intently, giving insight and suggestions when needed.
You may think you can do this instead with friends and family, and for some of you, this may work! And that is awesome, and you should keep it up.
However, most of us don’t open up 100% to family or friends for fear of sharing too much or making ourselves look weak in their eyes.
Below are 12 common reasons why people go to therapy.
Why Do People Go To Therapy?
People go to therapy, most commonly talk therapy, to get professional help when going through a bad time or having emotional problems that they need help with.
1. Therapy for mental health help
Going to therapy for your mental health is the best thing you can do for yourself. Mental health is a broad sweeping topic for everything happening in your head and heart—sadness, happiness, depression, anxiety, stress, confidence, and many more.
2. Therapy for depression
World Health Organization, in 2021, posted that it is estimated that 5% of the world’s population suffers from depression. That is around 400 Million people today in 2023.
I would not be surprised if that percent was not double or even tripled. Depression can come and go or stay with you for years.
3. Therapy for anxiety
Anxiety is becoming more common in society. There are more and more reasons to be anxious about things that directly relate to your daily life. While at the same time, there are many things that you have no direct connection with daily, but on a global scale, they induce anxiety-like feelings.
4. Therapy for grief
Losing someone close to you is not easy to deal with. Most of us are not taught how to address these emotions before it happens, and when it first occurs in our life, no matter what age we are, it can flip our life upside down. Speaking openly to a professional is a big help in getting all the feelings swirling inside you.
5. Therapy for confidence
Lacking confidence is very common. Some of us lack confidence in our overall life, finding it hard to feel confident in any area. In contrast, others may lack confidence in select areas. Both of these aspects can be worked on with a therapist on your team. They will help guide you in the right direction, taking small step by small step to gain that confidence you seek.
6. Therapy for personal growth
Going to talk therapy or many other forms of therapy can aid your desire to grow as a human. Personal growth means so many different things to each unique human. My personal growth work is overcoming the walls I put up constantly to hold me back in my ‘safety bubble.’ Another area of personal growth I work on is taking my confidence in certain areas of my life and injecting them into others where I am lacking.
7. Therapy for relationships
There are multiple variations of relationship help that therapy can help you and those you love. The value of seeing a therapist in a relationship will help you work through the hard times and arguments more clearly. Therapy will become a safe place where you can speak your mind and tell your partner what is happening in your head, making it easier for them to understand.
Some variations of therapy for relationship help:
- Going to therapy alone
- Going to couples therapy with your partner
- Going to group therapy with your entire family
- Going to group therapy with multiple partners (Polyamorous)
8. Therapy for work
You need to work; that is a fact you can’t get around. A consistent job income helps keep the lights on and food in your belly. It would be fantastic if you and everyone else loved their jobs and found them to be a positive part of their day with no stress involved. Unfortunately, this is not common, and stress, anxiety, and general mental strain are ordinary.
9. Overcoming obstacles in life
Obstacles in life are as inevitable as the sun coming up each morning. Sometimes there are a bunch of small obstacles that will have an overbearing weight on your shoulders, or maybe there is one massive obstacle blocking any movement forward in your life. It is valuable to talk with your therapist to figure out why these obstacles are there, how to address them, and how to tweak things so they don’t need to occur again.
10. Support in big life changes
We can sometimes foresee a significant event in our lives, giving us plenty of runway to stress out about what is to come. Getting a new job after working somewhere for ten years, having your first child, and coming out to your family and friends are just a few big life changes.
11. Objective viewpoint
Sorry to break it to you; you are not always right. If you were, there would be zero stress, anxiety, or mental health struggles in your perfect world of knowing everything. And that’s ok because this imperfection is what makes us human! And it is a beautiful thing.
One of the fantastic things a therapist will do for you is give you a professional objective viewpoint. And you will most likely take their viewpoint in a more thought-provoking and sincere stance than hearing it from a friend or family member (which might trigger you)
12. Level up from an already happy place in life
Therapy is not just for those trying to find their way out of a tough time. The most underused value in having a long-term therapist is that they will get to know you inside and out. What helps you grow, and what triggers you to fall off occasionally.
Create weekly or monthly sessions with your therapist when life is good, and you will see that that investment will pay off 10x in your business, income, relationship, mental growth, and so much more.
Explore our favorite online therapy apps
BetterHelp
Calmerry
Online-Therapy.com
FAQ
The main reason people go to therapy is to help them better their mental health. Usually due to depression, anxiety, grief and life stresses.
To know if you need therapy is best answered if you feel there is any part of you that you wish could change in a positive way.
The benefits of going therapy are that it will help your mental health, happiness, personal growth, friendships and more.
