There are lots of common myths about therapy, and if you’ve never had therapy before, the myths can be very off-putting. On this page, I have set about de-bunking them in the hope that doing so reduces the overall stigma associated with mental health issues and seeking help for them. You can find my blog post that goes into more detail about the myths around therapy here if you’re interested.

I’m not “unwell enough” for therapy.

Therapy is usually portrayed in the media as something you go to when things are at rock-bottom, rather than as an early intervention. You can have therapy even when things are generally okay. In fact, the earlier you access therapy, the sooner you’re likely to feel better. They say that “prevention is better than cure”, and therapy is a great tool that can help you to stay on track and reduce the chances of reaching breaking point.

I can only go to therapy if I know exactly what I need help and support with.

Nope, you can access therapy whenever it feels right for you. There might not be an “obvious” reason, like a bereavement, that leads you to seeking out a therapist, you might just be feeling stuck or have a general feeling that something is “off”. Therapy is often a reflective process, so it’s about having the time and space to identify beliefs and patterns of behaviour that are no longer serving you, and getting the support you need to make positive changes.

If I work through the stuff that brought me to therapy in the first place and stop having it, I can’t go back into therapy at a later date if something else comes up for me.

Therapy - like life in general - isn’t a linear process, and it isn’t necessarily something that has a fixed start and end point. Some people have therapy for a specific problem, work through it and never feel like they need to see a therapist again. Other people find that they work through enough stuff at that particular time, leave therapy for a while (sometimes months or even years), and feel like they need to come back to it at a later date. It’s an individual thing, so it will be different for everyone, and that’s okay.

I have to work with the first therapist I contact who has availability.

Absolutely not true! Therapy is an incredibly personal and vulnerable process, so it’s vital that you feel comfortable and safe with your therapist. If you feel like this with the first therapist you contact, great, but if you don’t, you don’t have to work with them. I always encourage people who contact me to check out other therapists if they want to, and genuinely won’t be offended if they choose to go with someone else! If you think I might be the therapist for you, get in touch with me using the form below and let’s see if we can work together.