To think that people overuse therapy as a solution for every problem?

[SnugOtter]

It feels like therapy is recommended for every small issue - are we too quick to turn to it?

Its near impossible to access any sort of therapy, even for severe MH issues these days so I am really not sure what you are talking about. The NHS just doesn't work in case you don't read the news...

This!!!

I don't think work related stress is a small issue.

And to add, I've had to pay my entire life for any therapy. I second that ref the NHS being useless.

Ive spent significant time in hospital with health issues. I've seen the aftermath of many suicide attempts. Not even those poor loves will be getting therapy! And I tell you it would probably serve them incredibly well if they were able and willing to access it.

You're just making shit up OP, who exactly is having therapy because they had a bad week?

Maybe you should have therapy to work out why you would start silly attention seeking threads based on lies? You're basically trying to show you're better than other people because you are more resilient than them by not needing therapy -maybe therapy could help you work out those insecurity issues too.

You obviously don't know what the purpose of therapy is. Therapy is expensive and therapists operate within ethical framework and it's usually very challenging. There is a reason self help books or peer support only go so far. You are being incredibly dismissive of peoples problems. Possibly, your sample hasn't shared all with you and you don't have a full view of what drives a person into therapy.

I don't know anyone who goes to therapy for a 'not good enough reason' but I know lots of people who would probably benefit from doing a bit of work.

This conversation is made difficult when people use the term "mental health issues" to mean everything from mild social worries to paranoid schizophrenia or PTSD after (actual) traumatic events.

How dare people turn to places to learn healthy coping mechanisms for this terrible corporate capitalist patriarchal hellscape dystopia, eh?

We should all just do the proper thing and buy a packet of benson and edges and neck a few shots of whiskey.

I’ve had therapy and found it helpful, but I think there’s a tendency for people to seek it for every small challenge. I’m just sharing my perspective.

Therapy is supposed to make things worse before they can get better, but any therapist should stay within the clients window of tolerance. You often go to therapy many months and things get worse before they get better.

Even if that was the case maybe that's exactly the point of therapy for them. That they will feel able to deal with 'every small challenge' after treatment. Not everyone got nurtured as a child in the right way and learnt what in your opinion they should be able to do with ease.

Anybody seeking it for small challenges wouldn’t get far with their GP and people just don’t have the money to pay for it themselves . Those that can just about afford it submit to funding it when at breaking point

I think the issues are a lack of nhs therapy and too many bad therapists.
I do think it's great that people are more open about MH now as years ago, we all smoked too much, drank/took drugs too much and had undiagnosed eating disorders in order to cope.

This is an awful and judgemental thread to start. It's so dismissive of peoples problems and the solutions they are seeking.

If it helps , I need therapy but can't access it due to various mental blocks, which ironically would probably be sorted in therapy.

I can detail the particular traumas if you want me to and see if they meet your threshold.

Out of curiosity do you have a concrete example of a person in your life or a thread on here where someone went to therapy for a "bad week at work"?

Actually, thinking about it, I can totally see why people in certain professions might actually need therapy after a "bad week" and about 10 different circumstances in which it would apply too.

So your attempt at trivial , was poorly chosen.

Thanks for this post. 100% agree. I fall into the client category of functional enough to hold down my job but masking my issues is exhausting. I do 1 extra shift every 8 weeks to pay for mine privately because it is so valuable. I can't recommend talking therapies enough, it has helped me build self esteem, put in boundaries so I don't burnout and cope with things that would have preciously seen me spiral. I feel there is a misconception that therapy is a nice chat and a moan because you've had a crap shift at work that week. It is long term hard work trying to address some deeply rooted historical issues that contribute to how you feel about yourself and how you cope with things now.

I’m a therapist. Can’t say I’ve ever encountered a ‘small challenge’ in a client’s life that was actually that small or completely about the face value issue once you dig a bit deeper. I also wonder what’s wrong with using therapy to support us through life?

@Doireallywanttodothis Excellent contribution and exactly my experience as a client. I have just calculated that I have spent a total of £15k on therapy over a number of years for childhood trauma and cptsd and addiction. I resent having to spend this kind of money on something someone else was responsible for. When I first started therapy I could not have imagined that I'd return to it again and again over the years but it was necessary to remain functional.

I have known several people who've spent their lives in and out of therapy. None of them seem any happier for it. Frankly, therapy just doesn't seem to work very well. I had a friend who was agoraphobic, for example, and got thousands of pounds into debt from having a psychotherapist come to her house twice a week. She's still agoraphobic, and even attempted suicide last year.

We now live in a therapy culture, yet when I think back to my grandparents generation (pre-war), they seemed stronger and happier than us!

I think it's the opposite - that people throw out 'get therapy' to people with serious issues as if that will miraculously erase all trauma and baggage. It can be very helpful, but it's not magic. If someone were paralysed due to physical trauma we wouldn't just roll our eyes and say 'they should get physical therapy.'

What a ridiculous post.

@Dappy777 parents and grandparents are exactly the reason why we need therapy.

I think people vastly over estimate the skills the NHS therapists have. In my Trust anyway.
It's a band 4-5 post. No professional qualification needed, one day a week on the job training for one year. CBT training is realistically all that is offered. And I'm sorry to say in most cases they don't provide anything that can't be accessed on line.
And don't start me on private therapists - absolutely anyone can see up as a private therapist and most service users seem to have bugger all idea who they are employing.

I don't see therapy as the route to ongoing happiness. For me it has probably kept me fighting longer than my body really wants me to. It has helped me see reality. When you see reality, you see what is and has always driven almost everything you do. You then make much better decisions for yourself and hopefully ease the suffering.

It's not the job of a therapist to save someone from suicide and that is no barometer in my mind of it's value. Some hurdles, for some people, will not be overcome and that's another reality I'd like to see come more into acceptance.