Updated 01/08/2025
When it comes to starting therapy, people often feel quite apprehensive. That being said, just because something is unfamiliar or uncomfortable doesn’t mean it should be feared or dismissed at the mere thought.
“Ambivalence is at the helm of motivation and when we are able to choose and accept the right therapeutic support over the status quo, we give ourselves a better chance at coping, managing life’s hardships proactively, and living healthfully.”
– Talkspace therapist Elizabeth Keohan, LCSW-C
One might feel apprehensive, not wanting to step out of their comfort zone without knowing what to expect from therapy. However, delaying seeking help can also prolong the time it takes to experience the incredible benefits of opening up. It’s important to remember that mental health is just as crucial as physical health. In this article, we’ll explore several compelling reasons why therapy is worth considering—helping those uncertain about seeking help understand the incredible benefits of therapy.
1. It’s Not For ‘Crazy’ People
You don’t need to go through something especially traumatic to benefit from a therapy session. You also don’t need to be suffering from a mental health condition to feel the positive side effects of talking to someone.
There are so many misconceptions about therapy. People are ashamed to say they go. They’ll claim they “aren’t crazy” and that it’s only to get them through a certain period of their life. But going to a therapy session is good for everyone.
Nobody is perfect. There is always something you can open up about and share to feel more at peace in your life.
Read “The Truth About People Who Go to Therapy: 11 Misconceptions and Myths”
2. It’s Easier to Talk to a Stranger than Someone You Know
While you may think talking to your best friend, mom or sister is enough; it’s actually not. These people know you. It takes a stranger to recognize an irregular and unhealthy habit in your life. Therapists know how to dig deeper and come to different conclusions than someone who is passively listening.
Your friends might sympathize while you cry to them about a breakup, but a licensed therapist will have you see it in a new light. A therapist allows you to wrap your head around things that most likely confuse your friends.
“Our closest allies often carry strong opinions about what we should do in life but that can overshadow what we want for ourselves internally. A well supported therapeutic space can foster the freedom needed to better understand personal needs and expectations.”
– Talkspace therapist Elizabeth Keohan, LCSW-C
3. You Learn New Things About Yourself
Therapy can help you learn more about yourself, including your emotional triggers, behavioral patterns, and how to manage them in a healthy way. This can be especially helpful if you struggle with managing a particular emotion like anger, sadness, fear.
In therapy, you will work with a therapist to identify your emotional triggers and develop coping mechanisms for dealing with them. You will also learn how to challenge negative thought patterns and beliefs. This can help you to improve your emotional regulation and overall well-being.
For example, if you tend to bottle up your emotions until they explode, therapy can teach you how to express them in a more constructive way. Or, if you avoid certain situations because they make you feel anxious, therapy can help you learn how to gradually expose yourself to those situations in a safe and controlled way.
4. You Can Kick Unhelpful Habits to the Curb
Whether it’s procrastination, people-pleasing, or other patterns you can’t seem to break, therapy can help you understand the underlying causes. By working with a therapist, you’ll gain insight into your behaviors and develop healthier alternatives that lead to lasting change. This shift can make your daily life more manageable and fulfilling, paving the way for more meaningful accomplishments.
5. It Takes You Out of Your Comfort Zone
Starting therapy for the first time can be intimidating. Fear of the unknown holds most people back. Nothing seems more uncomfortable than sitting in a room with a stranger talking about problems you shove deep within yourself.
You wonder how a stranger can understand, relate and make you feel better. You wonder how talking can disperse any stress and anxiety.
Well, it does. And being afraid shouldn’t hold you back from that opportunity. You have to remember this is their job. You’re not approaching a random patron on the street and telling them how you’re displacing anger toward your parents. Doing something scary and uncomfortable and then discovering how cathartic and amazing it really is makes the end results even better.
6. You Can Tackle Fears and Anxieties Head-On
Whether it’s general anxiety, social fears, or specific phobias, therapy equips you with the tools to face them. Working through your fears in a structured, supportive environment helps you build resilience and confidence over time, so you can approach life with a greater sense of calm and empowerment.
Therapists use proven techniques, such as cognitive-behavioral strategies and gradual exposure, to help you challenge and reframe negative thought patterns. By addressing your anxieties directly, you pave the way for a more fulfilling and fearless future.
7. You Might Finally Feel Heard
In therapy, you can open up about any topic without fearing judgment. You might finally feel truly heard and understood, realizing that your struggles go beyond irrational fears, with deeper roots that are in fact treatable.
You’ll find that someone is there, genuinely listening, and not brushing aside your issues. Therapists recognize there’s more to your story, something worth delving into to better your mental health.
8. You Become More Self-Aware
It is critical to be aware of yourself , your emotions, your problems that you’re refusing to confront, the meaning behind your actions, coping mechanisms or behavioral patterns, everything.
Many individuals often overlook the importance of self-reflection. They may find themselves reacting impulsively, causing harm to their relationships without considering their own role in the problem. We often don’t pause and reflect on how we might be contributing to issues in our relationships and interactions.
Therapy forces you to do that. It helps you work through your behavioral patterns to become a better person and build healthy relationships. It allows you to come to conclusions easier, to feel more peace with who you are and the people around you, to understand every layer of yourself you’ve been overlooking.
9. You Can Heal from the Past and Rewrite Your Story
The experiences and relationships in your past can shape your present in ways you might not even realize. Therapy provides a safe space to process unresolved emotions and break free from the grip of old wounds. By exploring these deeper layers, you can gain clarity, let go of what no longer serves you, and create a new, empowering narrative for your future.
10. You Feel Better Afterwards
When you approach a therapy session, it’s easy to believe there’s nothing specific on your mind to discuss. It’s worth going when there hasn’t been any recent crisis or major issue. What often unfolds in those therapist’s offices is quite remarkable.
As soon as you sit down and start to open up, something shifts. It’s a powerful transformation, and one thing you can be certain of is that, without fail, every time you walk out of that door, you’ll feel a profound sense of relief. You’ll carry with you a lighter heart, a deeper sense of calm, a firmer emotional foundation, and a newfound connection with yourself.
There have been moments when individuals entered therapy struggling to pinpoint a topic, only to find themselves exploring deeply meaningful issues within minutes of the session. It’s shocking how many connections therapists can make to things in your life. The longer you go, the more connections you can start to make on your own.
11. It’s Time When You Can Only Focus on Yourself
People often lead fast-paced, hectic lives. There’s a lot to balance between work, relationships, finances, and much more on top of our own well-being. Getting professional help from the right therapist allows you to take time to focus on yourself and improving who you are for the better.
You can explore underlying mental health issues, your thoughts and feelings, what you want in life, and what’s holding you back. You can discover new techniques to help you with recurring problems, to better understand the mental health issues and move on from them, all with help of the right therapist. All that being said about individual therapy, you may want to consider different types of therapy that involve people in your life, such as family therapy, group therapy, or couples therapy. This choice depends on your particular situation and preferences.
12. You’re Most Likely Repressing More Than You Realize
If you ignore a mental health condition and refuse to give it any thought, it’s likely to negatively affect your mental, emotional, and physical health. It will also affect the people around you. You might be especially irritable toward everyone in your life because you’re avoiding an underlying problem.
It is easy to go through life ignoring the deeper things being stifled inside of you, but you need to get to the roots of your difficulties and build the right coping skills to work on them. Seeing a mental health professional and going to therapy allows you to wrap your mind around an issue and understand it so it no longer appears to be this big, intimidating monster you can’t control. And while you are working through your current problems, you are also preparing for your future ones.
13. You Can Strengthen & Improve Your Relationships
Therapy isn’t just about understanding yourself; it can also help you foster stronger connections with the people around you. Whether you’re navigating challenges in a romantic relationship, struggling with family dynamics, or seeking to improve communication with friends, therapy provides a space to explore and resolve interpersonal issues.
Through therapy, you can learn healthier ways to express your needs, set boundaries, and understand others’ perspectives. This process can help you break unhelpful cycles and build more meaningful and supportive relationships. A therapist’s unbiased guidance can also highlight patterns you might not recognize on your own, giving you the tools to cultivate deeper, more harmonious connections with the people who matter most.
14. Going to Therapy Shows Courage
People don’t go to therapy because they’re weak. The opposite is true. Weak people hide from their problems; strong people confront them. Courageous, resilient people don’t fear being vulnerable and learning more about themselves. They recognize how beneficial that is in the long term.
Being reflective and expressing yourself regularly is as important as eating vegetables and getting a good night’s sleep. As Kerry Washington said, “My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn’t I go to a shrink?”
Sources:
- Understanding psychotherapy and how it works. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/psychotherapy/understanding. Accessed November 30, 2021.
- Speaking of psychology: Why you should talk to strangers, with Gillian Sandstrom, Phd, and Jon Levy. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/talk-strangers. Accessed November 30, 2021.
- Team GTE. How to improve self-esteem. Therapy for Self Esteem, Therapist for Self Esteem Issues – How to Improve Self–Esteem. https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/self-esteem/improve. Published May 9, 2018. Accessed November 30, 2021.
Talkspace articles are written by experienced mental health-wellness contributors; they are grounded in scientific research and evidence-based practices. Articles are extensively reviewed by our team of clinical experts (therapists and psychiatrists of various specialties) to ensure content is accurate and on par with current industry standards.
Our goal at Talkspace is to provide the most up-to-date, valuable, and objective information on mental health-related topics in order to help readers make informed decisions.
Articles contain trusted third-party sources that are either directly linked to in the text or listed at the bottom to take readers directly to the source.
