In terms of people I know that got good therapy they are limited in number and usually it happened after much investment​ of time and money.

One friend lost his parents aged 8 - these days he's very happy with the last therapist he had. He said to me when I met 'until 5 years ago when I started making money I was deadset against ever going back'.

Another friend I met through a social anxiety website has made progress with her latest therapist, an ex-FBI interrogator. Her issues relate to sexual abuse and all sorts of complications - I think the more complicated the problem, the more you need experienced therapists.

Me - I had 3 therapists before getting successful therapy. The first 2 were inexperienced pro bono therapists in college (plus I only got 1 session every 2 weeks), then the 3rd was highly aggressive - I went off therapy altogether after him in disgust.

A few years later my GP convinced me to go back as I'd been put on beta blockers and needed it. I did CBT privately with a therapist who was amazing. I'd already noticed positive changes within 2 months and after 14 months I was off the medication and really noticed the difference in my social life and my anxiety was virtually at nil. A year after that I had psychodynamic therapy through insurance through a clinic, which helped as I had wondered if my progress was imagined and if CBT wasn't enough. Tbh it really felt like I was just doing the same thing but with a different language eg self processing in CBT is similar to intellectualising in psychodynamic therapy.

One major observation is that if it says 'CBT' or 'Psychodynamic' on the tin it doesn't necessarily mean it's real CBT or real psychodynamic therapy. I've come across people that did 'breathing exercises' for CBT (breathing exercises aren't real CBT!) or hear tales of psychodynamic therapists screaming at survivors of sexual abuse to 'stop feeling sorry for yourself!!'. Real therapy involves neither of these things, which is why I think what gets underestimated here is the role of a competent therapist. It also helps to take baby steps and recognise that the real/root problem is often easier to tackle. For instance when I did therapy first I saw my problems as loneliness, no social life and no dating. Over time I realised not only that tackling anxiety unlocked these issues, but that anxiety was the only real issue. For instance these days if I were forced to drop everything and move abroad, say, I'd likely experience loneliness, no social life and no dating but it wouldn't be such a massive issue as my anxiety is much better managed, and over time I'd get those things anyway. One final thing is if you do get a good therapist, deal with the need to seek validation afterwards. It's something nobody warned me about - not only will people not listen but I've had multiple people miss the message 'I had successful therapy' (often leading to a cheap shots of unsolicited advice on therapy), particularly if they have a bee in their bonnet about people criticising therapists. And write down in detail what happened with poor therapists. Don't leave it at glib statements like 'they were aggressive' and get shot down in flames - I once showed a trusted colleague a detailed account of the s**theaded errors, u-turns, ducks, dives and attacks I endured from the bad therapist (10 pages long) and he went white as a sheet and apologised for questioning me leaving the poor therapist.