There are lots of things that have helped people heal besides therapy. Yoga, meditation, sports, pottery, drama, I'm sure the list of what has helped someone could go on and on. No I don't think therapy is the only way.

I will say though that when therapy was doing more harm than good for me in terms or stirring up too much stuff, it was because I had the wrong T who didn't know how to manage the speed or contain things in session or help me regulate stuff. After I switched T's things got a lot smoother. The first one was just great at bringing out all the deep stuff but she wasn't doing anything to make things stable and predictable. Working with an emotionally under-regulated client is not the same as working with an over-regulated one and some T's don't seem to understand that. Hopefully that makes sense...