Going to therapy can be a wonderful step in taking care of your mental health and learning healthy coping mechanisms. Sometimes, all we need is an unbiased, outside perspective to help us work through trauma, sort out our fears and uncertainties and remind us that we are enough just the way we are. I often leave a therapy session feeling 10 pounds lighter than I did an hour prior, as I’ve been reminded that I don’t have to let stress be a massive burden on my shoulders.
But the thing about therapy is that we don’t all have the time, money or resources available to go. It can be incredibly expensive if not covered by insurance, difficult to squeeze into your schedule, and finding a therapist who you mesh with can be a long and arduous process. That’s why it’s so great when people pass along the wisdom and life lessons they’ve gleaned from their therapists!
Down below, we’ve got a list of some of the best knowledge Reddit users have heard from therapy, as well as an interview we were lucky enough to receive from Randy Withers, LCMHC. This article may not be as effective as a weekly one-on-one session while laying on a chaise longue, but there are still plenty of insightful words that can give you a fresh perspective. Be sure to upvote the advice you would have paid money for, and let us know in the comments if you’ve ever learned any golden nuggets of wisdom from therapy. Then if you’d like to have even more free therapy, check out this Bored Panda article next!
#21
I don’t have to try to attack every negative feeling. Sometimes it’s okay to just be like “oh, hey sadness, I see ya” or “oh, alright panic, run your course while I finish doing what I’m doing.”
Acceptance therapy was the most powerful thing I ever did.
CBT, self-talk... it made me worse. Learning to just acknowledge the emotion and move on with my life was life-changing.
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71points
#22
I have had a long time issue (10+ years) of what I now know is negative intrusive thoughts. I thought I was a monster for getting these thoughts to hurt myself and other people all the time. I suppressed them for a long time and accepted the fact the I was a bad person who was eventually going to do something awful one day. I never asked for help due to the fear of being discovered as a freak and in my head it was better to live with being a freak than ask anyone and risk being found out. I later tried to commit s**cide and even after that I couldn't tell a therapist how I was feeling and the full story of why I tried to commit s**cide. Skip forward a couple of years and while my depression had gotten a bit better, the thoughts were as bad as ever. I got into an argument with my parents and in a heated moment I told them how I get the urge to hurt myself and other people on a day to day basis. After a long talk I found a different therapist and went on a different anti depressant which helps treat OCD. It turned out that these thoughts aren't abnormal and don't make me a freak, I just got them more than most people and they could be managed. My therapist gave me the best advice I still try to follow on a day to day basis. Be more generous to yourself. I spent so much of my life thinking I was a monster and a freak that had no chance of being normal, that I never let myself feel good because I didn't deserve it. I am learning to be kind to myself and allow myself to enjoy my successes and to not beat myself up over my failures. It's harder than it sound to not hate yourself when you have for so long, but I just have to remind myself that I need to treat myself with as much value and respect I give to other people at a minimum. Hopefully my story can help someone else who needs it.
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67points
#24
I was going on about something an ex had done that hurt me. I backpedaled a bit and said something like "I want to give them the benefit of the doubt." My therapist said, "Hey. I'm going to stop you there. I've noticed that you give EVERYONE the benefit of the doubt. Except for yourself. You have to be kind to yourself, you know?" Blew my freaking mind. Started bawling my eyes out, really freed me in a way.
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63points
#25
We seek what is familiar to us, even if it’s really unhealthy. There is a comfort in familiarity because it’s what we know / learned how to deal with.
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60points
#26
That you can’t control how people act towards you, but you can control how you react to them.
It’s something I use with my 9 and 6 year old to help them and it’s so effective.
It’s something I use with my 9 and 6 year old to help them and it’s so effective.
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60points
#27
I was talking to my therapist about how I absorb the moods of my husband and children. It was near impossible for me to be happy if even one of them was in a bad mood. My therapist told me that they do not have to be okay for me to be okay. This was life-changing to me, one of those moments when time slows down because you can finally see through the fog. My husband can be in a bad mood because of work, and I can be okay. My pre-teen son can be a moody kid, and I can be okay. Recognizing this has already started to transform my relationships.
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60points
#29
That I needed to forgive myself for past childhood trauma.
It sounds stupid but we Cary that s**t for the rest of our lives.
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52points
#30
That we're all f****d up in some way, and it's not worth beating yourself up thinking you're some kind of monster. Acceptance of this was huge to me.
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48points