What is the obsession with therapy/counselling?

I don't know where you're getting "years on end" from. I've had counselling twice, both times it was limited to 6 weeks, and had two spells under psychologists, neither for a long as a year even.
Not sure I'd still be around if I'd stuck to the gung ho route. Asking for help can be the hardest thing to do. I hope the way you've voiced your misgivings doesn't make anyone feel that needing counselling is somehow not legitimate.

At the risk of riling you further OP, this thread has ‘triggered’ me.

i am engaging with therapy because it’s easier than ‘pulling myself together’.

likewise, I’m on fat jabs because I can’t be bothered to diet properly.

i also use a dishwasher because washing up by hand is a faff.

and I drive a car because walking in heels is tricky.

judge away.

It's easy enough to find out if someone who claims to be a therapist is doing this. Any ethical therapist should be willing to show their qualifications, proof of membership of a professional body and proof of their professional indemnity insurance.

The. You completely misunderstand what therapy is. The point of therapy is that there are no quick fixes. Therapy is what people often benefit from. Quick fixes are what people try to do instead of dealing with the issues.

Despite all these messages from people who've been raped, abused and bereaved detailing how therapy helped them, the OP is still refusing to acknowledge it.

She has no empathy for her own struggles, so she can't have any empathy for anybody else.

Maybe one day you'll realise you can't play your piano to cure trauma OP. I hope that day doesnt hurt you too much.

You were in a situation where you could change something
I was dealing with compound traumatic grief. I can't bring those people back. I had to find a way of dealing with it. I can now talk about those people without crying.

So unless you're dealing with something you can't change then, sorry, you don't have the life experience to tell someone to just crack on

I really, really hate this about my profession. The two main regulatory bodies, the BACP and the UKCP have worked together to create a framework to try to address this as much as they are able to without having any formal statutory powers.

But I agree, it absolutely should be properly regulated. For the safety of clients first and foremost. But secondarily because therapists like me and my colleagues spend thousands of pounds and many years getting top-tier qualifications and end up competing in the same space as your mum's mate Doris, who's always been a good listener and shoulder to cry on and decided to set herself up as a counsellor.

In case anyone is interested - fully qualified, registered, properly supervised therapists can be found via the BACP and UKCP directories.

Counselling is not the default issue for most people these days. Try and access it on the NHS.

Are you just talking about CBT or all therapies?

EMDR saved my life.

I really hope that you don’t ever find yourself in a situation where you see how valuable therapy can be.

There is nothing unkind about doubting or questioning the effectiveness of therapy.

However, sitting in judgement, criticising and being unpleasant about those who use therapy is unkind. Which OP has done plenty of times throughout her comments.

The goal is not to make it as if it had never happened.

The goal is to assimilate it so that it becomes understood and experienced as something that happened but it is now bearable.

To be able to tolerate the knowledge that it happened without becoming completely overwhelmed by emotions. To have a safe 'place' to put it so that it no longer causes constant pain.

There is a massive neurobiological element to working with processing trauma that I won't go into here. But very real, measurable, empirical things happen in the brain structure when therapeutic approaches are used to treat emotional and psychological trauma.

I wonder why you are working so hard on this thread to prove that you don't need any help, OP. Not needing help seems to carry a lot of meaning for your identity. That's what I'd be most curious about if you were sitting opposite me in my therapy room.

I don’t see what is unkind about doubting the effectiveness of therapy. Obviously some disagree but in itself it isn’t a view which is ‘unkind.’

If that how you want to justify all your posts and the comments you’ve made throughout the thread then fine.

We will agree to disagree.

You are wrong @iamfedupwiththis it is unkind. Or a the very least demonstrates your lack of empathy and emotional intelligence.

True - and yours has no purpose except to just be judgemental and mean about people who struggle to cope with trauma.

Perhaps you should do some self-reflection on why you want to do that.

Hate to break it to you, but 'therapist' isn't a protected title in the UK, where this website is based. Anyone can set themselves up as a therapist and start charging and working with people.

I think OP is just trying to provoke people. I don’t think a genuine person would start such an unkind thread.

It’s clear the OP should never go to the therapy as she doesn’t appear to either take in information or listen.
She keeps referring to unqualified therapists.
There are no such thing. To qualify is a rigorous procedure.
It is like saying all professional doctors are not qualified. They are.
There is a sheer ignorance, and an inability to be curious.
You would ask why therapy can’t help with rape? There is a poster on here, right now, who is repeatedly being raped by her own husband.
It is a hugely complex situation, one where she has been controlled in every way since she was 18.
After posting, the first tentative step she has taken is to find and speak to a therapist.
When she tried to tell a friend she left key details out due to shame. The friend gave woeful feedback - don’t all of our husbands get a bit frisky?
The details of what this lady are doing through are harrowing. A therapist is trained to deal with this.
What would it change? Potentially, everything.
And please don’t say why doesn’t she just leave?
You clearly have no idea how life-changing professional help can be, and while it’s not for you, you seem dogged in sitting in a fixed position that it can’t help anyone else.
A therapist has written some fantastic words about what they do.
Many posters have replied about how therapy has changed their life.
If you can’t take that on board in any way, it’s you who has a problem.

Thank you @LondonLady1980 these are almost the exact same circumstances that led me to seeing a very good and insightful therapist. But it was my husband of over 35 years who died in a tragic and avoidable incident.
My therapist has helped me process so much and piece my life back together.
I find the OP's ignorance and flippancy around the subject borders on the offensive. I hope in real life she is more insightful and can understand that life can throw some pretty shitty things at people. And being unhappy in the workplace doesn't come close to it.
There but for the Grace of God and all that, I hope she never finds out.

Oh, can't therapy bring people back?

Everyone who has grief counselling is going because they think it will bring the person back.