Has Psychotherapy Really Done You Any Good?

Sorry if my joke on the problems of being your own T was out of line.

Therapy has helped me, albeit slowly. What I've found out in my case is that most of my issues are so deeply ingrained, it takes a great deal of effort trying to change now (I'm 48 and didn't enter therapy until my mid-30's). I truly think the earlier one gets therapy, the easier it will be to unlearn some of the unhealthy defenses, behaviors, and coping mechanisms and learn new skills. That's not to say that older people can't do the same, but it often takes longer.

I have learned many things from therapy that have improved my life and have never regretted it. However, it has been more painful than I realized it would be, and it has taken longer than i initially thought it would. Had i been told at the start that it would take me more than 10 years to heal, I don't know if i would have committed to such an undertaking. However, now that i've come this far and have seen the advantages, I'm sticking it out to conclusion.

The therapist defines "good" differently than I do.
When I ask her if this is working - she lists things that she believes have happened or changed or whatever. But none of them are the thing I go to see a therapist for. I cannot get her to explain how those things she lists relate to the thing I go to therapy for.

Company.

No! I was just joking.

I have been helped and hurt by therapy.

A therapist who helped me out of a deep depression helped me enormously through active imagination work, dream work....and relentlessly checking in with me when I "forgot" to show up.

another therapist helped yank me out of a neglectful relationship and helped me move across the country and re-invent myself.

Lots of positives to report then....

Since those T relationships....not so much...

Sometimes I wonder: if therapy works the first time...and the second time...maybe you're tapped out, or have the skills to help yourself?

I would need an increasingly great therapist the older, saner, wiser...I get.

Maybe that's why I feel that I have "worn out" therapy...or perhaps I'm so bad I'm beyond help this time!

Whew! Then may I say, TMI! TMI!

The way I view therapy is if you feel that you are not benefiting from it, then there is no point, and it would be ultimately a retrograde step and self defeating to continue. But, and it's a huge "but", if there is no positive affect to be gained from the therapeutic process until many months or even years down the line, then quitting therapy prematurely would be equally self defeating, as you just haven't given it enough time.

I'm still not sure if I would have benefited by having hung in there for at least a few more months. In the end I pulled out and embarked upon an independent DIY approach to treating my depression, and it worked. But that doesn't mean that the same approach will work for everyone.

Different strokes for different folks, and no doubt the old aphorism "everything in moderation" may also be applicable to therapy.

I think if not for therapy I would not be here today, either through a dark act on myself, or sitting in a mental health hospital or prison with a big o' "never ever ever let out" sign slapped across my forehead. when I started seeing specialists I was on a slippery path, hell one of my ex's was a major gothlike they litrally thought death and stuff was hilarious, but they just glimpsed the things i used to write on my bedroom walls and they refused to re-enter (wimp really) (i werent a goth...just very open to other peoples expressions) my poetry litrally got me banned from websites (so much for free speech!) but thanks to therapy im just a depressive with slight OCD, anxiety disorder and pessimist lol! which trust me is a huge step up. so yes its done me good, even if sometimes I act like I really could live without it...Id honestly miss it, if it went away for good.