When did going for 'therapy' become a thing?

[Outofinspiration]

I have noticed increasingly on Instagram etc that more and more people (Instamums and the like) are posting about their 'therapy' sessions. How amazing they are, how everyone should go to therapy blah blah blah. And in real life in the last few weeks 2 of my friends have brought up something their 'therapist' said about this or that.

I thought therapy was an American thing? Is it just a posher, less 'NHS' version of counselling, or is it something different?

Does anyone here go for 'therapy'? Am I missing a trick, is this something I should be doing?!

I've had therapy but I do have major depression and anxiety and have since 11. I think most people I know only go to therapy if they have a mental health condition or they are struggling with bereavement.

I do like a massage a few times a year which can be lumped in the therapies category, if that counts?

@HoppityChicken thank you

This is the definition of therapy and I agree with both. The former more OT type therapy, the latter more psychological.

therapy
/ˈθɛrəpi/

Learn to pronounce
noun
1 treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder."a course of antibiotic therapy"
2 synonyms:
3 treatment, remedy, cure, remedial treatment, method of healing "a wide range of complementary therapies"
4 

◦ the treatment of mental or psychological disorders by psychological means."he is currently in therapy"
◦ synonyms:
◦ psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, analysis "he's currently in therapy"

We afforded therapy by me taking on a temp job for 9 months and getting my mum to child mind. It put me under enormous pressure in sone ways but it also released me from my role as DHs unofficial therapist. I wish we could do something similar again but any money I earn now really needs to go elsewhere. His therapy cost about £400 a month in case you were wondering. Insurance covered the first 10 sessions but after that they deemed it a 'chronic condition ' And wouldn't pay any more

Yank fad innit

Op, if you feel therapy is self indulgent, that's fine. But for me it has literally been a life saver. I come from a background of extreme parental abuse and neglect which has left me with lifelong depression, anxiety and self esteem that is in the pit, among many other things. Therapy was bloody hard - agony actually. There's not a session where I didn't break down and weep..and many many times the events I was trying to put into words were so painful to recount that I could only speak in a whisper. However, it was worth every second of the pain, and though I still struggle with much it enabled me to put what happened in a proper perspective, and to realise that I too am a human being who is worth all the love etc that I didn't get growing up (my therapist had tears in her eyes when I said that "I was human too"). I now have a job (which is a miracle, let me tell you), and though some days I really have to fight through my feelings to perform at it, I'm a 1000% more of a person than I was before therapy. I'll be forever grateful for all that it did for me, and if I feel I need more in future I won't hesitate to seek it. It gave me back my life, and that is a dramatic understatement, not hyperbole.

I "go" to therapy. Have done for the last 10 months. I do talk about online as I write a blog about life with mental illness. However, I never share the details of my sessions except with my friends in IRL.

Can you get EMDR on NHS. WhyNotMe40

@WhyNotMe40 can you get EMDR on NHS?

Therapy is NOT a postcode lottery on the NHS (in terms of whether it exists, quality is a different matter). You can either ask your GP to refer you or in most places you can self refer online. You need your local IAPT service, but they're not always called IAPT. Look for the talking therapies page on NHS.uk for a tool which helps you find your local service. IAPT is for people with anxiety and/or depression. It's not a general counselling service, which is very different.

IAPT offers EMDR but maybe not in every service.

beta.nhs.uk/find-a-psychological-therapies-service/

Someone above said it 'ends up on your NHS record'. IAPT has a separate dataset so yes, data is collected and aggregate data is published every month so that we can monitor the quality of services, but there is no central mega-record! If you self refer then it won't even be noted on your GP record unless you want it to be.

Maybe I'm then projecting the 'self indulgent' thing onto others that I see doing it?

It sounds like it.

It is a good thing that people talk about therapy on social media, especially people who seem "normal". It destigmatises having therapy of any form and talking about your mental health, looking after it.

Do you dislike Instagram in general? There is a cross-section of society who find Instagram very boastful and self-indulgent itself, because the platform lends itself very well to behaving like a diary. But if that's the case, you might find you are happier not to be on there at all; or at least to unfollow everyone who you don't know personally and care about.

Otherwise, I think this may be a weird projection. People have been going to therapy for years. It's been entering public conversation for maybe the last two; but the push to be accepting of mental health and make it part of the conversation means more people will talk about it now. That has to be a good thing, whether or not you feel that it's worth investing in it yourself - judging people for talking about it seems an odd response.

@AFistfulofDolores1 it's good to hear someone talk about their experience with analysis/ psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

As others have said as psychotherapist isn't a protected term, anyone can say they are a therapist. So it is really hard to navigate finding someone properly trained.

If interested in the analytic way of working (understanding the unconscious and impact of early experiences and relationships) which is not for everyone, but very significant for many, it is a very intensive and often longer term process - although not always. Then rather than looking for bacp therapists, a more specialist accrediting body would be the bpc (British Psychoanalytic Council) and for children and young people (doctoral level)- the Acp (Association of Child Psychotherapists). These trainings take years, many therapists/ analysts train (particularly the child and adolescent ones) in the nhs and go on to work there, as well as sometimes privately.

But, I know that getting this kind of treatment on the nhs is not easy and depends where you live.

There are some really good low fee schemes available too in some of the adult training institutions.

Clinical psychologists do have a protected title, so people cannot say they are a clinical psychologist unless they are! They have also been trained in the nhs until doctoral level and have a broader training in different areas and modalities- so not as in depth as the psychoanalytically trained above, but may be able to work flexibly eg- cbt or emdr, systemic etc

Other trainings and ways of working may be really helpful for different people- there are lots of good people out there. The difficulty is knowing who and what. Some people do brief trainings in cbt, or emdr etc and may be fine/good at doing those as interventions.

Others do counselling or psychotherapy trainings that, a bit like psychology, include different things. Again, they may be great and some training courses are obviously better than others. But I do think its a real problem that none if it is well enough regulated and as above anyone can say they are a therapist or counsellor.

I know this doesn't really address your op but, given the way the conversation has gone, thought it might be helpful.

I am not getting EMDR on the NHS, but as this is something that has greatly affected my life for 20 odd years, and doesn't seem to be going away on its own, I've decided to get it sorted! We are sacrificing a family holiday this year to do it....

thought therapy was an American thing? Is it just a posher, less 'NHS' version of counselling, or is it something different?

Therapy is available on the NHS. I work as a Nurse Therapist in an NHS Psychotherapy clinic. The average waiting time for an assessment by medical staff is 18 weeks and then when I'm asked to see a patient I can offer an appointment within 2 weeks. We do a general psychotherapy clinic, a sexual trauma clinic and also offer Mentalisation based therapy for Borderline Personality disorder. The average sessions offered are 6 months apart from MBT which is 18 months individual and group treatment at the same time. I'm in Scotland.

It's psychodynamic psychotherapy I should have added.

I tend to just assume people have been referred to a Counsellor via their GP for anxiety/depression rather than making a lifestyle choice. Either that or they've paid privately because demand outstrips supply for Psychologists in the MH service.

Thanks FarFrom.

I knew I would get a bit roasted starting this thread, but I'm glad I did because there have been some very helpful posts, and I have just tried to be honest about it, including my judgyness.

On the 'self indulgent' thing, I think when I hear people on SM/real life saying 'oh I really think everyone should go to therapy' I always just think 'well I'd love to, but I don't have at least 50 quid a week to pull out of my arse to do that'. And (again, being very honest here) when I have heard people say that they have had 'years of therapy' for something, my first thought is that they must be loaded! I guess I'm preoccupied with the money side of things.... Although I can see that it's possible to get some things on the NHS, but I don't think I would qualify for that tbh.

As I said before, I would love to be able to go and see someone who would sort out the things that niggle away in my life in the background and do cause issues at times, but we just can't afford that. And the thing is, the way people I know talk about it, it does seem like that is what they are going for (although obviously I don't know) and maybe I'm just jealous that they have cash to spend on that and I don't!

I was thinking about it last night as well, and the person I know who is quite 'down to earth' has talked about going for 'counselling' (even though the things they have mentioned do sound more psychotherapy like) whereas other people I know who fit a different type of demographic, say they go to 'therapy', so I think that has coloured my view as well. That somehow 'therapy' is more glamorous?

Thanks to everyone for your posts and taking the time to explain things, even though I have been very judgy! I hope that people also read the whole thread and see all my posts on this, rather than just my OP.

I have problems with anxiety and depression and didn't find it helpful

that was free. I'm amazed people can afford it tbh.

I don't see it as "self indulgent", if it helps you, great. But I am surprised at how many people can afford it.

I do see where you're coming from, and I wonder if you maybe feel a bit annoyed that you feel people are showing off about something that, for you, would be an expensive luxury but which you actually would like to try. I get it, people who show off annoy me too.

If you follow people who annoy you on social media, just unfollow. Or take everything with a massive pinch of salt.

But therapy/counselling or whatever you want to call it saved my life.

I think the OP came in expecting everyone to agree with her and sneer at people having therapy. And then it backfired.

And if you really need therapy you will find the money, I scraped the 50 quid a week as a skint full time single mother of two! It’s just priorities.