Nowadays therapy's no longer a luxury (in Western countries), or rather, it comes in a lot more variety. I don't think anybody could look at me and say I was being narcissistic for going for therapy after I got the last few years for PTSD and had to cry myself to sleep. It was not vanity, it was reality of my life that required therapy so I could function. Trust me, I did everything possible not to go for it, I've often hated therapy. wanted to be able to do things on my own, not need anybody or depend on anybody. I wasn't some spoiled rich kid who would go to therapy just to make a long list of how much his parents sucked cause daddy would not buy the kid his own Ferrari.

I suppose people could argue still that there is selfishness to me going for therapy, as I have the option to go to a therapist which people did not decades ago. I mean regular people, not rich people. That may be. But I would also argue that life has changed and we no longer have that sense of social cohesion and sense of community or family or culture/religion that brought people together decades ago (though I'm not denying that they too had some negative effects). This has resulted in more focus on individuals, on the self, for better and worse, resulting in self-obsession and narcissism but also loneliness. So in this more professionalized and more fragmented - but also more psychologically educated - society, therapists are basically filling in for those positive elements in society that no longer exist.

In summary, I think it is selfish in a way but in a way I live in a more selfish or self-focused time and society also. And secondly, depends why you going for therapy. If you have a great life objectively, are mentally healthy, are not in great distress, and basically are just using therapy to ignore your commitments and responsibilities and just focus on your own issues with no care or regard to other people in your life, then it's selfish.

If you're going because of great distress, mental illness, or minor distress but which you don't use as reason to ignore your commitments and responsibilities (or overlook the fact that other people in your life too have problems in their lives, it's not just you), that you are working towards being a better person not just to yourself but also a better more caring human being, it's not selfish! And in some ways it's the opposite, shows sense of responsibility, maturity, and strength of character, and courage. Real therapy can be very tough. It takes courage to go to those dark places.