… to ask, if you’ve ever had therapy?

[Katielovesteatime]

And if so, would you recommend it? Why? And if not, why not?

I have, several times.

My personal experience has been the ones I've accessed privately have been better than through the NHS, however this may be simply because I had more options on who to 'pick'.

It's useful. However it can also be a huge emotional toll that extends beyond the bounds of the 1h session. I once sought a therapist to talk about childhood trauma in an already packed time of my life and it was intense! You have to be focused on your end goal, whatever that is, because it's not easy!

What sort of therapy? I've had NHS CBT, and would not recommend it. It's very rigid, with specific worksheets to go through each session, even if they don't really apply to you (and even if the person doing it acknowledges they don't really apply to you).

I suppose if you do fit in the right boxes then it would be helpful. But it's not very personalised.

Yeah. I had weekly psychotherapy sessions for a year.

It was really beneficial but a very painful and intense process at times.

If you get the right therapist, it can be fantastic.
I've had it and it definitely gave me "lightbulb" moments that stayed with me and changed me.

I was lucky that I went to a practice that allowed me to have short taster sessions with different therapists at first and I could choose one. This was in Ireland, quite a few years ago - not sure how widely available it might be now/ elsewhere.

I know that if I'd had to stick with the first therapist I tried, it would've been a totally different experience.

Yes I had therapy for 3 months after giving birth to my twins. It was just such a big struggle and I was only 22 and felt I couldn't cope. Therapy really helped and luckily, I had my husband by my side supporting me. In the end, I had 3 more kids and feel so much better than I ever did back then

No. I have seen first hand that it is very helpful for many people, but I believe it wouldn't work for me. I don't like talking about my problems, or personal issues, I keep stuff in and process it in my own time and in my own way. I did a course in counselling with the possibility of pursuing it as a career, but I realised it just isn't for me.

Yes, that is not all NHS CBT so please dont say it is. What you are describing is poor CBT offered either by someone who is not experienced enough to do it in a different way, or in a service (probably a private contractor paid for by NHS money) who tightly regulate what people do in sessions.

Yes. It was revelatory. I thought self-knowledge was actually my strong suit, but I've figured out so much that was completely out of my conscious awareness, including my disordered eating, my sibling relationships, my teeth-grinding, my inability to ever manage to learn to drive etc.

I think I've been lucky with my therapists, though. (I certainly saw a couple of dreadful ones in the past, though, through my work's EAP scheme, and didn't go back after a single session to any. The one who was obsessed with enneagrams was a particular low point.) These people are in private practice, though our family health insurance covers a certain number of sessions.

It's brutally hard work, though. I have to be careful what I schedule for the rest of the day, and I'm always very tired that night.

@Autumnismyfavouritetimeofyear I've had it three times over the years, with three different people (one of those was high intensity CBT). It was all the same. But I think it's fairly obvious that I can't possibly speak about all NHS CBT. Of course I can only give my own experience. Just like everyone else on this thread.

OP asked if people had had it, and if they'd recommend it. I have, and I wouldn't.

I think you need to shop around and find the right therapist if you're paying privately. I've had good and not so good experiences. The not so good experiences finally led me to be very selective about my last therapist (it sounds like I've had a lot of therapy but I haven't, I just didn't find my previous therapists were helping). I combed the BACP website for therapists in my area and narrowed it down to 3 who looked like they would be a good fit. They were experienced in specific areas that I wanted to explore. I ended up with a brilliant woman who helped me enormously.

From my experience, I would say that a lot of the work happens on your own, between sessions, and you may feel a lot worse before you start to feel better. But for me, it was really worth it.

I tried CBT for a huge surge of anxiety and I think it was helpful in that I was able to go into a room whereby somebody was listening to me with a level of empathy, but it definitely didn't help long term.

I've had therapy and I'm training to be a therapist (currently doing Level 4). You need to think about what kind of therapy you want and what you want to get out of it. Person centered is about listening to the client and asking questions to get the person thinking about why they feel and act as they do. It can be very therapeutic but also very tough. CBT type therapies are more goal oriented and about changing certain behaviours and thought patterns.
Unfortunately the sector is unregulated so if you choose to do it make sure your therapist is BACP or NCS registered so you can ensure they have had good training.

I've had NHS therapy which was strategy based so you had to pick one aspect of the problem that you wanted help with and work towards resolving it. I think it was a form of CBT and l'm not sure that really helped me very much because it was rather rigid.
I then discovered that in my area l could self refer for a course of low cost therapy where integrative counselling is practised. l found this to be very helpful and have twice used them for course of 10 sessions each time. Both counsellors l saw were lovely, very empathetic and insightful and they really helped me at the time.

It's true that a lot of stuff happens in between sessions. I had to take an enforced break as my original therapist went on sick leave, and my sister (who is a therapist but in a different, specialist field) said 'You'll be amazed at the stuff that will come to the surface when you're not seeing anyone', which I thought was nonsense, but turned out to be true.

Yes and it was really helpful.

Yes - counselling a couple of times. Once through work scheme - 6 sessions bereavement. Another was 6 sessions through NHS - I was angry and struggling. 10 sessions with a psychologist during cancer treatment - I just needed an outlet and basically just cried for all the sessions. Another psychologist a few years after the cancer as I was still experiencing some trauma.
They were very good. But prior to the first time I never opened up about my emotions at all. I would never have thought to go to counselling. My work suggested it initially and it was so helpful. But it helps me to have a fixed course as I let it out and then I don’t want to talk anymore so it starts to feel pointless. It’s also exhausting and I would not want to have it indefinitely.

It was very useful to speak to someone who was being paid to listen as it didn’t feel like I was burdening anyone (plus I struggle to open up and talk freely to the people around me).
some of the counselling/ psychology offered me theory (grief cycle/compassion focused therapy) which was helpful but the validation of my past childhood traumas was very beneficial.
and when I was having my cancer treatment having someone agree that it all was shit and unfair was what I needed. And I could reach right into the depths of my soul and share some of my darkest thoughts that I would never share with anyone I knew personally as it might burden/upset them too much.

Keep an open mind - I didn’t always agree with everything they said but was able to not take disagreements personally and on reflection maybe I wasn’t ready to hear those particular statements at that time.

I have solution focused hypnotherapy which works with my subconscious mind to help me change how I think and feel about certain things. I found the right person first time and he's helped me way beyond what I ever imagined. After an original series of sessions, I still see him from time to time when I need help.

Yes. I had some through work's EAP after my father died, which wasn't very good, but it meant I was taking action, so my manager could tick some boxes about me struggling to perform following bereavement.

I found my own therapist through BACP after my mother died - we'd had a challenging relationship and I wanted to talk about it. I saw her for quite a long time, as it moved into other areas. I found it helpful.

I saw someone through (different) work EAP a couple of years ago for 5 sessions, which was of limited use.

Ah. England and it’s IAPT nonsense.

Yes; I’ve had EMDR following a traumatic birth experience with my daughter and it helped immensely. I’d recommend highly!

I had CBT for health anxiety. Definitely didn't cure me but was very helpful to realise my thought patterns and what I was experiencing was more common than I thought. It's made me more mindful when I catastrophise and gave me a few coping techniques. Not a quick fix. It is always helpful talking through your problems though especially to someone with no judgement and not feeling guilty about off loading onto someone. Worth a try.

I've had:
CBT for Anxiety and Post Natal Depression
DBT for Domestic Abuse trauma
Hypnotherapy for cPTSD
Specialist psychotherapy from rape crisis for Childhood Trauma
Group therapy for sexual violence and an eating disorder
Counselling for domestic abuse
Transactional analysis for child sexual abuse trauma
EMDR for trauma
Some other kind of therapy from a mental health nurse for eating disorder
Shit loads of drugs - couldn't even list them, apart from Lithium which has scarred me haha.

The only thing that really helped is EMDR. And walking up mountains. And reading 'The Body Keeps the Score'!

I feel like I very much need it but have heard mixed reviews.

I have. It's no quick fix but I've found it very beneficial in understanding myself and navigating my way through life challenges. I've done it privately but have also done some CBT through the NHS which has been useful but nowhere as valuable to me as psychotherapy.

I think a lot depends on you as a person, if you're choosing to do it,or being sent. Different types of therapy will suit different people more or less. I knew I wanted a talking therapy, to understand thinking patterns, but others might need ways to just break out of patterns. We are not all the same and do not need all the same approaches.