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How Can Therapy Help Me?
Therapy can help you understand and reframe your problems and concerns. It can teach you specific emotional and social skills, and can help you reap more satisfaction from your work and your relationships. A therapist’s office can be a sanctuary where you are free to express private thoughts and struggles. Friends and family members can provide excellent emotional support, but a therapist can give you a trained, and more impartial, perspective on your life.
Because subjective feelings and thoughts are involved, therapy’s effectiveness is harder to measure than, say, a cure for a medical ailment. But many studies have shown the effectiveness of therapy in improving quality of life. A landmark 1995 Consumer Reports study concluded that patients benefited very substantially from psychotherapy. Interestingly, no specific type of psychotherapy fared better than any other, and psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers did not differ in their effectiveness as therapists.
Other studies have shown cognitive behavioral therapy to be very effective for anxiety disorders and chronic depression—particularly for patients who don’t fully respond to medication.
The key to successful therapy is a connected, trusting relationship between client and therapist, which is why the Therapy Directory is committed to helping you find the best professional for you.