Speaking as someone that has been going to a therapist off and on for the past three years I have come to be pretty skeptical of the idea. Pretty much all the progress I have made in coping with and solving my problems has been on my own. I currently see one mainly because it is required of me by my college and because of the entertainment value of talking about myself for an hour or so.
Therapy has worked well for me, but usually as a more effective means of rubber ducking, i.e. getting to discuss out loud problems that I’d been ruminating unproductively on. This often makes it clear which parts of my internal monologue actually make sense, and which parts might be covering up for my real priorities. A good therapist can help in other aspects, but I’d say most of the benefit just comes from this phenomenon.
The main reason therapy works for this and talking with friends doesn’t is that I’m much more likely to filter my thoughts when talking to a friend, lest it come back to hurt me socially.
(Take this all with a grain of YMMV; I’m not contradicting your experience.)
Speaking as someone that has been going to a therapist off and on for the past three years I have come to be pretty skeptical of the idea. Pretty much all the progress I have made in coping with and solving my problems has been on my own. I currently see one mainly because it is required of me by my college and because of the entertainment value of talking about myself for an hour or so.
Therapy has worked well for me, but usually as a more effective means of rubber ducking, i.e. getting to discuss out loud problems that I’d been ruminating unproductively on. This often makes it clear which parts of my internal monologue actually make sense, and which parts might be covering up for my real priorities. A good therapist can help in other aspects, but I’d say most of the benefit just comes from this phenomenon.
The main reason therapy works for this and talking with friends doesn’t is that I’m much more likely to filter my thoughts when talking to a friend, lest it come back to hurt me socially.
(Take this all with a grain of YMMV; I’m not contradicting your experience.)
For the same reason, it helps a lot to honestly write up one’s understanding of one’s ideas where no one is supposed to see them.
Yup, private journaling helps too; but having a listener is still better.