Shrinks are for crazy people. They wear glasses with white coats and write notes about you while you lie on a couch and tell them your deepest secrets.  They tell you there’s something wrong in your head and tell you you’ve got some sort of mental illness you’ve probably never heard of, that some old, dead guy came up with years ago.

Sound familiar?  This is what a lot of people think therapy is like.  They think that shrinks are for people who are cracked up and crazy.  That’s the prejudice, or stigma, that therapy has gotten over the years, and that’s probably why you think the way you do about therapy.  So many people just assume that’s the way therapy is without ever having experienced it for themselves, but they pass along this prejudice to people they meet, and before long it almost seems true.

The stigma associated with therapy is that all people who need therapy are crazy.  This simply is not true.  Not everyone has a mental illness but everyone has their own problems, no matter how large or how small.  Some people deal with these problems through activities like painting, sports and physical activity, and others through therapy. 

Seeing a therapist does not mean you have something wrong with you mentally or that you’re nuts; it simply means you are mature enough to recognize your problems and you are strong enough to want to learn more about yourself and how to cope with these problems.  Dealing with the curves life throws you can be a lot easier when you know about yourself and when you have someone to talk to.

So what’s therapy really like?  First of all, therapists don’t have to be doctors and glasses are not something they all wear.  They don’t make you lay on a couch unless you want to.  And you can tell or NOT tell them anything you want—therapy is all about you.  They want to help you get to the bottom of whatever problem you want to talk about.  They can’t blab to anyone what you tell them (not even your parents!) and they listen to you without interrupting or judging you.  It’s like talking to your dog because they’ll always listen, but this type of dog gives you advice back.

There are a lot of different types of therapy.  Some focus on what you say, some on how you think and still others on you as a whole person.  There is no one therapy that works on everyone, but rather something different for each person.  Read on to find out which type of therapy would be best for you!