1. Everyone can benefit from therapy. While studies show emotional improvements and treatment for those suffering with mental health disorders – those same studies also show great benefit for people who are healthy.
2. Talking about feelings and events actually transfers information from one part of your brain to another. When emotions are stored in the central parts of our brain, such as the amygdala, we experience them with emotion. When we talk about events and feelings we slowly transfer memories from the emotion centered parts of our brain to the logic centered cerebral cortex.
3. Therapy is for men, too, not just women. Statistically speaking more women seek counseling than men. This is due primarily because of social acceptability. Although women reach out for help more than men, statistically speaking, men need it just as much, they are just less likely to get help.
4. It is just as effective for treating depression as antidepressant medications. Studies show that psychotherapy is just as effective in the treatment of depression as antidepressant medications. Those same studies also show that psychotherapy treatment outlasts antidepressant medications in that patients symptoms stay gone for longer periods of time. Psychotherapy treatment results also have a smaller chance of relapsing back into a depression, and psychotherapy has less unwanted side effects such as weight gain.
5. Talking about feelings actually DOES solve problems. Check out studies on emotional intelligence, for example, of the benefits of talking about feelings. Emotional intelligence, or EI, is the top predictor for workplace success.
6. Therapy is more than just talking about feelings. Psychotherapy includes education, behavior modification, trauma reduction, and the learning of new thought patterns and habits. What gets worked on in therapy sessions depends on the goals of the individual.
7. Your pastor does not provide therapy. It is important to have someone to talk to at church or your place of faith. However, most pastors and priests are not licensed to provide medical services and they do not have the qualifications necessary to treat mental health disorders.
8. Your therapist isn't going to “analyze” you. Remember that therapists are just people too. The intent behind therapy isn't to judge or analyze what is wrong with you. In fact its quite the opposite. A large part of therapy is identifying your current strengths and building on them, not on finding your weaknesses.
9. Therapy is confidential, even if you see your therapist outside of the office. What you say to your therapist is protected by HIPAA laws and can not be shared to anyone else. Most people don’t know that HIPAA also covers the relationship. This means your therapist must keep the fact that they know you at all a complete secret. So if you see your therapist out in a public place they will have to pretend like they do not know you.
10. When you are diagnosed with a mental health disorder, no one else except your medical insurance will know unless you tell them. Psychotherapy records and considered “hyper confidential”. This means that your therapist and your medical insurance can never share psychotherapy notes with anyone, ever, without your permission. This means the government and other organizations will never learn about any of your therapy work. This is, of course, unless you tell them.
Written by Brad Messenger, LMSW.