Does therapy help? I see this throwaway line of "needing help" or "getting therapy" quite often, but I'm dubious about whether it does anything. Get help is often suggested in response to depression, but the actual treatment by psychiatrists is to basically pick an antidepressant with the help of a game of darts and hope for the best. Repeat until you've tried various options for a few years.
Is therapy any more effective than that? Or do they just repeat you into submission until you sing the right tune even if you don't believe in it?
There are a lot of useless therapies. I've been through several garden variety therapists and the cost was simply not worth it. Part of the problem with therapy is you know nothing about your new therapist, and more often than not the therapist has no idea what you're going through. So you lack the connection. The therapist/client relationship is very narrow and neutered and its easy to waste a lot of time.
However -- I did have some breakthroughs with a life coach I found watching youtube vids. It was really helpful for me to go into a therapeutic relationship when I already know I can connect with the coach on a personal level.
Therapy hasn't helped me "break down any walls", but I have found it useful at times sharing my troubles with someone because it makes me feel less alone in it all.
Is therapy any more effective than that? Or do they just repeat you into submission until you sing the right tune even if you don't believe in it?