I'm still in the middle of therapy...but I have to credit her because she saw that I was really depressed, suggested medication...and a year later, I can see that I am doing better. In that sense only, I credit my T.

But in the sense of how does talking to a T help....that is a good question. 1--it is someone who is invested in every weird or dark thought I have, and I dont' share with anyone else.

2--She encouraged me to join a social sport, that has been extremely trying and i've almost quit the sport and the difficulties of making friends 1 million times, but she keeps telling me that it is good for me, and to keep trying. Also, a year later--and I do have much more of a social life. Less isolation generally equals a good thing for me.

3--She is there to listen to my anxieties and worries about stuff that I don't know what to do with. She helps me untangle some of it, make it so it isn't something that is only swirling around my head endlessly with no fruition.

4--Generally, I just like her as a human, and we "clicked" pretty easily. That doesn't mean I was like "YES i love therapy and will tell you all the things!" For me it meant that I let down my guard easier than with previous therapies. I feel free to just be more "me" and open and say thoughts that are going through my head without too much censoring. I know you believe that T's are acting at clients...and I see what you mean. What I see is that I probably see her best qualities as I don't see how she is when she is in a bad mood, or exhausted, or just had a fight with her H, or her kids are driving her insane...or her mother...whatever that makes humans less than "perfect."

Just like my toddlers in the classroom see the best of me, they are also seeing genuine me as well--just filtered because it would make no sense for them to see all the crazy bits of me. I think of therapy the same way. Also, my T is very open and talks about her life and shares bits and pieces of her life that relate to whatever I am going through. She sometimes rambles on a bit TOO long, but she has learned to reign it in.

Hope that helps