Five Reasons Why Therapy Should Not be a Bad Word

As mental health and self-care take centre stage at home and work, there still remains a painful and rather troublesome level of stigma around the term ‘therapy.’ 

If you’re considering therapy for yourself, working alongside someone who is undergoing therapy or are looking to understand a little more about why therapy shouldn’t be a bad word and why the stigma associated with therapy should be removed, continue reading. 

For those who have undergone therapy, routinely see a therapist or have made use of the services of a counsellor, you may be surprised to know that so many people have an odd view of the practice. 

That said, below we’ll take a look at our defence of the word therapy and how you can defend and push off the judgment associated with the term ‘therapy.’

You’re Solving Problems

Off the top, one of the main reasons therapy should never be coined a bad word, or seen as something that’s worth judging is because you’re working hard to solve a tonne of problems. 

Whether these are internal-facing issues that only affect your well-being, or whether they’re out-facing and affect others, you’re working to better yourself. 

One key point to keep in mind when it comes to understanding therapy as a good word is that yourself, a family member or a colleague are working to improve themselves for others as well. 

It’s important to view one’s therapy as a rather selfless process to undertake, as someone is not only working to improve their lives, but also how they treat and respect others too. 

As you will agree, when we don’t feel our best it’s increasingly hard to treat everyone around us with respect and appreciation — and repairing this through therapy is something worth applauding, rather than judging. 

Therapy Isn’t an Enemy 

Another point to note in our quest to remove the stigma around therapy is keeping in mind that therapy isn’t the enemy. 

For all of us, therapy is more of a hero than anything else, and when someone vents their frustrations with therapy or touts that it simply ‘doesn’t work,’ there’s a good chance they’ve had a poor experience. 

Of course, therapy may not be for everyone and results do differ, though this doesn’t provide an avenue or a grounds to judge and vilify those going through therapy. 

It’s important for us all to understand that therapy isn’t the foe, but rather an ally which has come to offer all of the support and guidance needed to deal with a myriad of issues, and you should never be forced to feel the need to defend your choice in going to therapy. 

Therapy Fights Isolation and Loneliness

A third key thing to consider when understanding therapy as a positive term, rather than something worth judging for is that the practice fights against isolation. 

Of course, there are a range of other perks that come with seeing a therapist, though one key point is that you’re fighting your isolation or loneliness when it comes to having an avenue to talk. 

Combatting the judgment or ‘bad word’ that is ‘therapy’ could be as simple as outlining that you or someone you know is finding an avenue where they can speak out their issues, rather than being isolated and trapped with their feelings and frustrations. 

It’s key to understand therapy as a pathway out of isolation which is, again, a big reason therapy should not be a bad word. 

You’re Removing Strain from Friendships

A rather significant point we’d like to make about therapy is the fact that those who are going to their routine sessions are actively reducing their dependence on friends and family for their issues. 

As we all know, when someone is feeling down and would like some help, it can sometimes pull us down too — no matter how strong we are. 

That in mind, when we see therapy as a bad word, we’re forcing our friends, colleagues or family to forgo getting help, and thus pushing them into mental health isolation or forcing them to vent all their issues to us. 

When we view therapy in a positive light and strip the stigma from the term, we’re giving our friends and family more of a judgment-free avenue to seek therapy to vent their frustrations and daily struggles away from their friends or family, reducing the strain from these relationships and lessening potential conflict. 

Therapy is Simply Someone to Talk To

To end our list of reasons why therapy should not be a bad word, we’re going to highlight the practice in the most literal sense — you’re simply finding someone to talk to. 

When we consider therapy as this, and nothing more, it seems rather foolish to view the practice in a bad light. Would you typically judge or look down upon someone just looking for someone to speak to about their problems? The answer is likely, no. That in mind, therapy is a fantastic way to talk out issues and just talk to someone about troubles, and of course, this does not warrant a reason for therapy to be a bad word or for stigma to exist around the term.