Is Therapy Worth it?

“I am really struggling, and I am not sure what to do.”

“I have heard that therapy could help, but is it worth it?”

These are very common thoughts to have when you start to consider if therapy would be helpful for you. It is normal to feel skeptical about the effectiveness of seeing a therapist considering the emotional and financial investment that it takes. However, the need for mental health support is very common. Approximately 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 6 children have a diagnosed mental health condition (National Institute of Mental Health, 2022). Subsequently, the desire to receive treatment for diagnosed mental health conditions is also very common. Within the United States, over 20% of adults and over 13% of children receive mental health treatment (Terlizzi & Norris, 2021; Zablotsky & Terlizzi, 2020). There are many benefits of therapy, but the most common ones include learning ways to live a fuller life and reaching your full potential, improving behavioral and emotional symptoms, receiving support for as long as you may need it, and working towards goals in a way that best fits your situation.

Therapy provides a comfortable and safe environment to talk about significant life changes, school and work stressors, familial and intimate relationships, hard or traumatic experiences, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. It offers you an opportunity to challenge your negative perceptions and change how you view yourself and the world, to learn how to better respond to and adapt to stressful life events, and to find ways to reach your full potential and live a more meaningful life. It can also support you in developing self-acceptance, improving self-expression, and building self-confidence so that you can try new things, meet new people, and be the best version of yourself that you can be.

Research shows that your quality of life can be significantly impacted by a wide range of mental health conditions and that psychotherapy is effective in developing ways of coping that significantly improves your quality of life (Hoffman et al., 2014; Ishak et al., 2011; Weisz, 2017) Common psychological symptoms include anxiety and worry, depression and hopelessness, decreased attention and concentration, lack of social motivation or engagement, and many more. These symptoms can be debilitating, but therapy can help you find inner strength to improve these symptoms and overcome these challenges. Additionally, therapy can also improve your physical health and day-to-day functioning (Eells, 2000; Long et al., 2004). Common physical health symptoms include changes in your appetite, in your sleep cycle, and other chronic medical conditions. Therapy can help with these symptoms, whether that be finding a meal regimen that fits your schedule, practicing better sleep hygiene, or abating the physical health symptoms of chronic stress.

Therapy provides you with the skills and tools needed to improve symptoms and to learn new ways to adapt to and respond to stressors. The length of treatment is typically dependent on getting you to a place where you feel confident in your ability to manage things that are stressful. Therefore, some people decide to stay in treatment for a few months and some people decide to stay in treatment for much longer. A benefit of therapy is that you and your therapist will work collaboratively and cooperatively to determine what best fits your schedule and needs.

There are many different types of therapy from which you could benefit. Some therapies focus developing more helpful beliefs about yourself and the world around you and then learning healthier actions to take when responding to stress. Other therapies devote more time to improving your relationships and helping you express emotions in healthier ways. You may find that individual therapy is most helpful, where you and your therapist work together towards your goals. Another option is group therapy where you learn skills in a group setting and can relate to other people struggling with similar concerns. A final option is family therapy where families can learn communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills. A benefit of therapy is that you can decide what style of support best fits your situation and needs.

There are many benefits to therapy: the validation that your struggles are real, the support you can receive with these struggles, and the skills and tools you can learn to improve areas of your life. At the end of the day, many people consider therapy to be worth it because of the various benefits, the opportunity to grow in new ways, the flexibility of the process, and because they are simply worth the time and the investment!

For more information, please visit these resources:

Devitt, M. (March, 2019). Study: One in six U.S. children have a mental illness. American Academy of Family Physicians. https://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/20190318childmentalillness.html

Eells, T. D. (2000). Can therapy affect physical health? The Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research, 9(2), 100-104. https://doi.org/PMC3330586

Hoffman, S. G., Wu, J. Q., & Boettcher, H. (2014). Effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders on quality of life: A meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(3), 375-391. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035491

Ishak, W. W., Ha, K., Kapitanski, N., Bagot, K., Farhy, H., Swanson, B., Vilhauer, J., Balayan, K., Bolotaulo, N. I., & Rapaport, M. H. (2011). The impact of psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and their combination on quality of life in depression. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 19(6), 277-289. https://doi.org/10.3109/10673229.2011.630828

Long, C., Krisztal, E., Rabinowitz, Y., Gillispie, Z., Oportot, M., Tse, C., Singer, L., Gallagher-Thompson, D. (2004). Caregiver stress and physical health: The case for stress management therapy. Clinical Psychologist, 8(1), 22-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/13284200410001662596

Mental Health America (2023). Therapy. https://www.mhanational.org/therapy

National Institute of Mental Health (2022, January). Mental Illness. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness

Terlizzi, E. P., & Norris, T. (2021, October). Mental health treatment among adults: United States, 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db419.htm

Weisz, J. R., Kuppens, S., Ng, M. Y., Eckshtain, D., Ugueto, A. M., Vaughn-Coaxum, R., Jensen-Doss, A., Hawley, K. M., Krumholz Marchette, L. S., Chu, B. C., Weersing, V. R., & Fordwood, S. R. (2017). What five decades of research tells us about the effects of youth psychological therapy: A multilevel meta-analysis and implications for science and practice. American Psychologist, 72(2), 79–117. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040360

Zablotsky, B., & Terlizzi, E. P. (2020, September). Mental health treatment among children aged 5-17 years: United States, 2019. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db381.htm