Does therapy help?

I just want to know from people who went to psychotherapist if it was actually beneficial to them?

Thanks

I've never been to therapy but sometimes it just helps to have someone to talk to whose sole goal is to help you get better.

Generally: yes. It depends what kind of therapist you go to, though. Ignore ones who advertise as Christians.

The first time I went to see a therapist, he didn't really help at all and give me that "oh well" attitude then prescribe me some anti-depressants which personally didn't work. I went to see a different therapist later and he pretty much gave me a lot of great advice on life. That was all I really needed to feel better, plus we chatted in general about gaming and anime since he was into that stuff and it was great. I walked out with a smile on my face.

Overall, I'd say it does help but I feel that it depends more on the therapist.

You get out of therapy what you put into it. The key is finding someone you are comfortable talking with and opening up to. That person can help you analyze and understand your issues and suggest ways to deal with them. Everyone should have someone to talk to, whether its a therapist or significant other, or whoever.

This. Also, you might have to go through a couple of therapists. They all might be qualified, but sometimes you just don't 'click' with a certain therapist, but you do with another. Don't be discouraged if that happens. (Happened to me)

Yep.

Pretty much this. Also, depending on what your problems are, you might want to try and avoid the "Psychiatrists are better than psychologists because they can prescribe medication" mentality. From the cases I have knowledge of a lot of psychiatrists are way too quick to prescribe medication and in some cases the strength and dosage of said medication is just crazy. If you think that you mainly need to talk to somebody and together find solutions to your problems maybe a psychologist is better suited for you, instead of a psychiatrist who might act the way @CountBleck12 described.

I do have to admit I might be a bit bias, because as a personal experience I went to a psychiatrist once due to my extreme OCD and it did not work for me. She just prescribed medication after medication until I felt like a drooling mess incapable of thinking and when I told her I wanted to ease off on medication she upped the dosage (which reminds me, if you get medication prescribed to you, don't take anything you're not comfortable with). Sorry if I'm getting ahead of myself here =P Anyway, due to other problems with her, I stopped going and ended up solving my OCD on my own. On the other hand I did accompany a family member to a psychologist and I was a lot more pleased with the way things went and it actually helped her (the person I was accompanying)

That's interesting. I started seeing a therapist (psychologist) a few years ago and I saw her for a good 6 months or so and she was very nice, but we never got around to taking about my issues, we'd talk about everything else, like the weather, etc. It could be that psychologically, I wasn't ready to explore these yet, or some other reason, but I eventually found a very nice therapist at a non profit mental health center about 20 min from my house, and I've been seeing her for the past two years, and only after I started seeing her, I think it was six months in, then I started seeing the resident psychiatrist. She was very nice and started me on a low dose of fluoxetine (Prozac). I was a bit hesitant, having never taken anti depressants before, but it seemed to work pretty well, and she slowly upped my dose and I even found it got rid of my OCD tendencies as well.

I also tried seeing another therapist (he was more specialized, like an MFT) and although he was very nice, easy to talk to (and not bad on the eyes), I kind of stopped going to him after a few months. Finding someone you can relate to and can talk to is really the most important thing.

@Allicrombie: Yeah, that seems the way to go if you do need medication; start with a low dosage and up it if needed. Mine started with close to the max recommended dosage and I felt like I was trying to process through my issues and the medication wasn't letting me. Then again, I think I got the worst the world of psychiatrists had to offer. After a while of taking the medication and complaining to her that it was too strong she asked me if I was feeling any other side effects like sexual performance problems, I said no, she asked if I was sexually active at the time, I said no, she suggested sexual intimacy might help "taking the edge off" (at which point I was starting to feel highly uncomfortable with where this was going)...when she asked if I wanted to "maybe get together later" I got up, told her where she could shove her therapy and never went back. My thinking is that she would drown her patients' mind with ridiculously high dosages and then use her position to get some. Who needs rape drugs when you're a psychiatrist? Probably should have sued her but I had so many problems at that time and didn't want to add more (probably the reason why she was comfortable risking such proposals).

Wow, that is such an ethical violation on her part. She could lose her license for that.

@Allicrombie: Could and should. I think jobs in the medical field are the shittiest for sexual harassment. When you hold someone's health in your hands, be it mental or physical (but especially mental) you have to be a really crappy person to take advantage of your position in such a way.

As a physical therapist I always make double sure I don't say anything ambiguous or touch my patients in a way that they might doubt whether it was a professional touch or not (although every now and then every therapist gets that patient where you tell them to roll up their sleeve so you can massage their wrist and when you return to the room they're fully naked). I can't even imagine asking one of my patients for a coffee let alone ask a patient that is not in possession of all their mental faculties if they want to go back to my place...it's just disgusting...

I can't imagine. Ever since I started doing the Psychology undergrad thing, its given me a much greater perspective on psychology and psychological issues and ethical considerations seems to be a very important part of that.

@Allicrombie: I'm sure you'll be one of the good ones =) Also, glad to hear you also got rid of your OCD; don't know which type it was but all kinds of OCD suck =/

@korvus: That's kind of you to say. I'd love to eventually see clients at something like the small non profit mental health center near here, just seems like a great way to give back to the community. Oh, it wasn't anything too strange with the OCD, mostly tying and retying shoes before bed or washing my hands about a hundred times a day.

@Allicrombie: The mindset is right; the rest, if you're not a natural, will come with practice =D

@korvus: ha, I've been told I'm a natural. I've gone with friends to places like the DMV and/or repair centers and without any prodding from me, people have ended up telling me about their marital problems, and problems with their kids, etc. I've been told I'm very easy to talk to.

Depends, I have Asperger, I had the social skills of a baked potato (Now I have the social skills of a potato, a step up), went to social therapy and it kind of helped. But I eventually quit it because the therapist was seemingly trying to push all my buttons to anger me instead of helping me.