oh gosh...

1) about 15 years? Am I that old? yikes
2) no particular reason, actually. I was dating a guy (who I eventually married, then divorced) who wanted to get the communication open from the beginning, so about 3 months after we started dating, he invited me to his therapy visits. He had been in several long-term relationships that didn't work out and he wanted to do his best to head off any problems before they got worse. He ended up being a nightmare, psychologically - all that couples therapy didn't even begin to prepare me for it, but I really liked therapy enough to keep going without him after we split up. I still like therapy. My T now just helps me deal with family/friend/coworker issues on a week-to-week basis, but I NEED her to help me deal with my husband's plethora of mental health crises (crippling anxiety, depression, ADD, possible Aspergers)

3) no real origin; no real symptoms.

4) I have no idea whether therapy has been successful for me. I still get enough out of it to go, but since I started going at age 23 and I'm now 38, perhaps much of my progress is due to life experience and growing up. Hard to say.

I do like PsychCentral, though - I get a lot of support here in ways I can't get in real life.