Anyone ever had therapy?

I had therapy a few years ago and the most helpful thing my therapist did was to listen to me and not try to tell me what to do. I think therapists help when they reach out their hands and try to understand us. I did have one therapist and all she did was try to tell me what to do - not good.

Anyone else had any similar experiences?

I went to therapy about 10 years ago. I hated my therapist though, so I quit going.

i agree with you, not ever had therapy myself i try to help myself before i seek advice from others but listening is great me and my girlfreind help each other all the time just by listening you dont even have to say anything back. hope your ok now.

I had almost a year of therapy 6 years ago . My theorist was great , she didn't try telling me what I should do or feel . She would listen to what I was saying and some how always ask the right questions so when by the end of each session I had a better understanding of all the whys and what fores and how comes. She was exactly what I needed to get though a very bad time.

i would think this is what therapy should be about... just helping someone figure out how to interpret their thinking on their own... show them how to think about the way they are thinking in a way that they can work with and move forward on their own with...

sounds like an excellent therapist you had...

I'm a partime therapist when it comes to my friends 8)

hehe

but umm yeah I kinda wish I had a therapist because I'm a very insecure girl!

I was very lucky IMO because she was an excellent therapist , she didn't try pushing meds on me and she didn't pull any punches , when I started getting to wrapped up in the piddly stuff and would lose sight of the real issues she would stop me and then let me settel a moment or two then I'd start back on the important things.

Nah, never been to therapy, went to counseling for a while but nothing more than that.

I saw a psychiatrist monthly for almost 10 years.

I guess it helped, but given that i was only 17 when i began therapy and was 27 when i was done, i may well have just grown the f up in that time and thats the change i noticed..

It depends on what your looking for.

Some ppl want sympathy and a friendly ear and that is enough to make them feel healed.

Others need life advice or a gentle push in the right direction to move them out of a procrastination phase.

Personally, i needed to learn adult coping mechanisms.

My childhood role models were infantile themselves so i had no guidelines from which to draw when things got hard.
As a result i handled things like a 15 yr old would well into my 20s.

So cognitive therapy taught me how to recognise my behaviour patterns and stop the bad ones from consuming me.

I still fail this miserably at times, but without learning the correct methods i would be royally screwed now..

I think the key is knowing exactly what help you need before you go into therapy and chosing a therapist that is an expert in the particular feild.

I have just started going to counseling but not been to therapy as of yet. I think as some have said it's just good to have someone to listen to you every once in a while, I think for a lot of people therapy and the such are probably good things to use if you're going through a rough patch.

I am a therapist and I've gone to therapy. I've fired some crappy ones and have a good person I rarely see, but sometimes go in for a "tuneup". We all need to vent sometimes and dumping on family and friends makes you unpopular very fast.

When i was in college a part of my tuition went to student services, which in turn meant that I could see a therapist free of charge. She was great in assisting me to elaborate on my problems. I actually studied Psychology. When it comes down to the nitty gritty its amazing that someone can make up to $200 per hour just asking you to tell them your problems!

First thing about seeing a therapist is to find out if you and the therapist have a good rapport. If you don't on one or the other side, fire and look for one that's right for you.

Don't pick out a therapist that will hold your hand and hinder the healing process by forever keeping you the victim. Try to find one that knows that you have a disease but not a victim of the disease rather a survivor with a disease.

You can either be the disease or you can have the disease and that's the difference in how you will proceed in life.

Some people would argue that counselling is a form of therapy and that both these things are hard to distinguish.

I think it really is essential that therapists especially go for their own therapy at least once in while. I too am a therapist and have gone to therapy and like you have not continued with the crappy ones - it really is a sad state of affairs that there are crappy ones. I only wish there was a way knowing which were the crappy ones. I guess state regulation (in the UK) will go some way to do that.