What’s missing from therapy.
Therapy is an amazing tool for many. It gives people a safe and supportive space to explore their own emotional landscapes. It’s special having someone dedicated to your own story for an hour.
It’s become the go-to tool in our arsenals for anything mental health related. Anytime anyone faces anything troubling in the mental sphere, the immediate recommendation is to go to therapy. People swear by it. Countless people have seen life-changing benefits from it - including myself.
But therapy is not some miracle pill. It isn’t the be all and end all, and I worry that we are depending way too much on it.
Therapy really isn’t accessible when you need it. It isn’t affordable. It simply isn’t an option in many cultures and it isn’t a complete solution.
It is great as a guiding hand, or a supportive force. It was designed to support the individual journey, giving people a nudge in the right direction, or equipping them with tools and concepts to deploy on their own.
What therapy has instead become is a crutch. The therapy room is the only place many people confront their issues. They lock everything away all week until that weekly one hour session, when it all comes out, and then lock it away again. Therapy is no longer equipping people for their individual recovery, but has become the recovery itself.
We have created a mental health culture in which people are no longer empowered to help heal themselves. They no longer take charge of their own recovery, and are completely dependent on an external factor which is inconsistent and financially burdens them.
This intense focus on therapy is also letting down those in restrictive cultures. Those who can’t gain access to a therapist are left with nothing. They read books or scour online resources to find little nuggets of wisdom to help them, because the industry has done nothing to help those who can’t access a therapist.
Even if you’re lucky enough to receive therapy, it’s one hour a week. What about the 100+ hours during the waking week you have to fend for yourself? What do you do then?
It’s time the mental health industry refocused on the most important part of the journey - the individual one. It’s outside the therapy room that progress is made, that ups and downs are faced, that ultimately - life is lived. It’s so strange that we have become so obsessed with an hourly session only few can access and that only addresses a fraction of the picture. And this is assuming you get access to a good therapist! We haven’t even discussed issues of therapist compatibility or quality.
It’s time we focused on life outside the therapy room, and gave people a range of options to lead their own individual journey. Not replacing therapy, but working alongside it for those lucky enough to receive it. And in cases where therapy isn’t an option, giving people much needed outlets to manage their symptoms. Mental health is fundamentally an individual journey - it always has been - and our efforts and solutions should reflect that. The future of feeling okay lies in empowering each and every one of us, to take charge of our wellbeing, understand the depths of ourselves, and heal what’s needed. Ultimately, helping people help themselves.
Sam.