Have you been thinking about seeing a therapist for as long as you remember, but still aren’t sure— is therapy worth it? Has ‘attend therapy’ been on your to-do list for months, even years at this point, but you still have not reached out to a therapist?
People seek out therapy for all types of reasons in search of healing various mental health challenges or relationship issues.
And, there are many different types of therapy based on what you are looking for and how you tend to integrate change into your life (e.g. cognitive behavioral therapy CBT, dialectical behavior therapy, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, and EMDR Trauma Therapy, and Internal Family Systems, to name a few).
Therapy is no doubt and investment of time, finances, and emotional effort. It’s completely normal to wonder feel hesitant and have some questions about whether it’s right for you, or if you could really benefit from it.
Today, I’m going to break down if therapy is worth it for you based on where you’re at and what you’re looking for. I am going to share some evidence based reasons therapy may be worth it for you.
Is Therapy Worth It?
Regardless of which type of therapy you choose, studies have shown that the most important factor in the success of therapy is the relationship and trust you have with your clinician. With the trust and foundation as your base, therapy offers countless benefits, ranging from mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual.
Let’s talk about what you have to gain from mental health care, and the benefits of designating time for your internal wellbeing each week. Plus, let’s talk about what might still be holding you back.
10 Benefits of Therapy
Even though therapy cannot change the events that have happened, techniques can help your nervous system reprocess them. When you engage in this type of nervous system healing, the way you perceive earlier life experiences can shift.
A safe space to Express freely
Having a nonjudgemental space to explore your pure, raw thoughts is one of the biggest benefits of therapy. When you have a lot on your mind or are experiencing stress in your life, releasing the pressure of everything you are holding in is therapeutic in and of itself. I’m sure you can relate to how much lighter you feel after a phone call with a friend or partner when they can just hear everything that’s going on for you.
Unlike a friend, a therapist listens to your venting with a trained hear, and will slowly start to guide you into noticing particular patterns. When you vent, you give your therapist insight into your thought patterns and the way you experience emotions, which will help your therapist understand you and how to help you.
You also reveal thought patterns that may be shaping the way you see things, and your therapist can help you label those thoughts and emotions. Research shows that techniques like labeling actually diffuse thoughts and decrease the intensity that you experience emotions.
Confidentiality and Privacy
The reality is, over-sharing with people in your life make things worse. For example, maybe your friends try to help by offering you solutions, which just leaves you feeling ashamed and alone. Or maybe your friends want to help by telling you to leave a relationship that you aren’t ready to walk away from.
A therapist uses skills to help you unlock your own inner world and access to answers. They will support you in making the best decisions aligned with your life and values. Further, a counselor does not know the people in your life and will not be affected negatively by your complete and honest disclosures.
Build Emotional Intelligence
In the modern world, we spend so much of our lives reacting to things around us. More and more, people are talking about how important emotional intelligence is- in relationships and even in performance in the work place. We all experience emotions, and knowing how to manage those emotions is crucial in our ability to function effectively.
A therapist will do is guide you to slow down and actually hear the words you are saying, pull up the thoughts that are framing your believes, and bring into consciousness your reactive behaviors. A therapist will guide you in understanding what emotions are and how to feel emotions, so that you can limit negative reactions and build coping skills to deal with difficult or triggering events.
Uncover Thought Patterns
Our thoughts and beliefs tend to drive our behaviors and the ways we deal with emotions. However, a lot of the thoughts and beliefs that impact us the most are unconscious to us on a daily basis.
Therapy can help unlock and reorganize negative thought patterns that keep you from healing and living a life aligned with your values. Counseling can also help you to notice the thoughts that frequent your internal world without staying attached to them and making decisions based on those thoughts.
Discover how you got where you are
Different therapies will have different approaches, but usually, a therapist will build a holistic understanding of you: the relationships you’ve had, the ways your family impacted the way you think, your physical health, the society you live in, culture, and more.
Insight is not the goal of therapy, but it is a necessary step in having new experiences and creating changes. When you can understand how your experiences and relationships have contributed to the ways you think, perceive, and react to certain situations, it is much easier to release those patterns and create new ones.
Trying to take different actions without understanding the old ones is sort of like trying to put a bandage on a wound without cleaning it out first. The cleaning can be unpleasant, and the cleaning alone will not heal the wound, but it is a step that cannot be skipped.
The insight and understanding usually result in more understanding and self-compassion, which can quickly alleviate anxiety and increase confidence and satisfaction.
Develop coping skills
Once you have clarity about how you got to where you are and have experiences in therapy that change your perspective, you will develop healthy coping skills to manage difficult situations in the future. This step is crucial because while therapy can be a longer-term relationship, it is not meant to last forever. Once healing and progress have occurred, your therapist will guide you to create strategies and use coping mechanisms to sustain the changes over time.
Coping skills will be tailored to your therapeutic journey, progress and goals, and can include emotional regulation, mindfulness exercises, and values-guided activities.
These skills will take time to learn, understand, and integrate. The therapist will be there as you begin using them to troubleshoot any areas you continue to get stuck.
Improve Your Relationships
The state of your mental health impacts your whole life— your relationships with your partner, your relationships with your family, social life, your ability to progress in your career and achieve your goals, and more. And fulfilling relationships are an essential part of life.
When you improve your own mental health, you carry these insights and new skills into all the other parts of your life, and experience the benefits tenfold.
Even if you work in therapy individually with a counselor, you inevitably will transform your relationships. If would like to more specifically work on relationship health, your therapist can help you in how to ask your partner to go to couples therapy and how to incorporate family members to reach your goals.
In addition to counseling on your own or with a partner, group therapy is a form of therapy where you attend with a group of people who have similar health problems, issues, and goals. The group setting offers both a support system and a place to practice interpersonal communication skills.
Increase Motivation
Life can feel heavy and depressing if we don’t feel well, don’t understand how we got to where we are, and feel alone in all of the confusion.
With the support of a therapist, you gain a new experience where someone enters the experience of your world with you. This can make patterns start to make sense, emotions feel less intense, and you feel less alone.
This support may reignite motivation inside of you to discover your purpose and take action toward the type of life you really want to live and fuel your personal growth journey.
Reclaim Your Self
Over time, different parts of us take over just to help us survive—parts that hustle, numb, perform, withdraw, or please others. In therapy, you’ll begin to recognize the inner parts of you that show up under stress—and begin to uncover the ones you’ve forgotten or silenced.
This work allows you to reconnect with your core self: the version of you that is calm, clear, confident, and compassionate. As you build this connection, life begins to feel less fragmented and more whole.
Gain Resources
Therapy isn’t just about talking—it’s also about equipping you with the tools and resources you need for long-term growth.
Whether you’re navigating a mental health condition, managing symptoms of an anxiety disorder, or just looking for guidance, your therapist can offer personalized support, practical tools, and curated book recommendations to deepen your understanding and healing.
I always recommend this book to folks curious about therapy— find my full list of book recs here!
Build A Steady Relationship With Yourself
The most transformative benefit of therapy? You begin to treat yourself with the same care and responsiveness that you long for from others. You learn how to hear your own emotional needs and respond with presence instead of criticism or avoidance.
This internal safety becomes a foundation you carry into every relationship. When you feel emotionally safe inside yourself, you’re more able to take risks, speak up, stay present in conflict, and form secure, connected bonds.
What’s Holding You Back?
Part of the challenge in investing in therapy is that clients cannot see a tangible figure for their return on investment. But can you imagine how much better your relationships, your performance at work, your potential to reach your goals would be if you had the opportunity to improve your mental health?
Let’s talk about what might be holding you back and wondering is therapy worth it.
Stigma
Though we have come a long way, there is still a stigma in our modern world about mental health counseling. These negative attitudes and beliefs can discourage people from getting the support they need out of fear of judgment or perceived weakness.
However, this stigma is toxic and can create shame, preventing people from getting the healthcare they need. The truth is that seeking counseling is a sign of strength and personal responsibility. Just like physical health, mental health is an essential part of overall well-being and health. Taking the time to address mental health enhances quality of life and empowers people to create the change they week in their lives.
Financial Investment
Therapy services can be expensive. If you are looking for a therapist who specializes and has advanced training in a certain area, they more than likely are not on insurance panels, and you may wonder if therapy is worth the cost.
Fascinating research actually found that investing in therapeutic services is 32x more cost effective in increasing happiness than simply increasing the amount of money you have. The researchers found that the increase in well-being in daily life gained from investing $800 in therapy would have taken a pay raise of over $25,000 for a comparable increase in mental health.
The return on investment will unfold for years to come, probably even the rest of your life. You can’t put a price tag on that.
Here are some tips + options for affordable services:
- Explore your out-of-network insurance coverage. You’ll be responsible upfront for the fee, but you might be able to get a significant portion of it reimbursed.
- Look for a therapist that has sliding scale availability.
- Ask if your therapist supervises any students you could see at a lower fee.
Time
I know everyone says this when offering a reframe about time, but it’s so true: how much time do you spend scrolling on your phone each day? How much time do you spend binge watching Netflix each day?
We are all busy and time scarcity is real. (If time is a issue, virtual tele-health mental health therapy is an amazing option for you). Yet, if you struggle with your mental health, consider how much time do you spend suffering in your relationships or with your emotions.
Often, participating in therapy is a way to finally process and release emotions and buy back the time that you have spent in confusion and discomfort.
fear or Mental Resistance
The investment into therapy can seem overwhelming, and even scary. Taking the emotional energy each week to explore the depths of your mind is hard work. Resistance may reveal an unconscious worry about getting in touch with your inner world.
If you have wanted to start therapy but still haven’t leaned all the way in, I’d gently encourage you to ask yourself:
- What might happen if I lean into therapy?
- Is there something in my past I am avoiding that I don’t want to look at?
- Am I so used to living in stress, anxiety, and discomfort that the thought of things changing (for the better) is actually scary?
- What makes it hard for me to believe a therapist could really understand me in a way that will impact my life?
A word about fear: The reality is, if you are facing internal resistance or fear to start therapy, this is likely your unconscious mind’s attempt at trying to protect you. Our minds are scared of change, and when they sense that stability might be shaken (even in the very best way!), our mind will try to protect us by keeping us in the familiar.
The fact that you have been considering therapy and that something inside you is getting activated by even thinking about it are very good indicators that this could be the perfect step for you.
How Do I Start?
Therapy is sort of like going to the gym, in that, people don’t look back in regret and say, “man, I wish I wouldn’t have spent that time in therapy working on myself!”. Similarly, building mental health is like building physical health in that it takes time and dedication to sustained habits.
Mental health professionals are specifically trained not only to listen and support you, but to help you work toward your unique goals.
Start by getting your hands on this free getting started guide. This will walk you though:
Our practice supports individuals and couples conveniently online. Reach out to inquire about our services.
Recent Collaboration!
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mae, the creative behind Good Living with Mae, about therapy and mental health broadly. Check out our conversation for a non-therapist take on the topic of therapy.
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