Therapy as a Gift!
Irvin Yalom, one of the foremost therapist of the last generation, wrote a book titled The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients. This was his gift back to the field of psychotherapy as he was getting ready to retire. The title alone makes it a valuable contribution.
Though we've come along way in overcoming stigma about attending therapy, we still are not there yet. Most people still see therapy as something you have to do when things go wrong. Few people see therapy as the gift that it is. Yes, therapy does help people overcome their problems; but it also does so much more than that!
Therapy is not just for people who are mentally ill or under psychological distress; it is for anyone who want to improve their lives! While it might be more important for people under severe psychological distress to attend therapy, there would be a lot fewer people in need of therapy if more people in general were in therapy! Let me explain....
I have two examples which are highly related which I like to use to explain the value of therapy as a gift. First, the biggest gift you can give your spouse is to be in therapy before you get married. Second, the biggest gift you can give your children is to be in therapy before you have children. Why? It's easy. While you may not need therapy, you can almost always benefit from it. By working to improve yourself and your psychological health, you are more likely to be a good spouse, a good parent, and a healthy person to be around. Also, you are less likely to make mistakes which could hurt other people.
Many people would not enter into a bad marriage if they first took the time to enter into individual therapy before getting married. Furthermore, if they went through a thorough premarital counseling process, this also decreases the chance of entering into a bad marriage.
In this section, I will explore more about why therapy is a gift and something important for everyone to engage in. While I am not so idealistic to think that therapy can solve all the world's problems, I do strongly believe that we would see a lot less violence, hate, and trauma in this world if more people -- healthy and unhealthy -- chose to enter into therapy.