Does Therapy Really Work? Let’s Unpack That. - The New York Times

Research shows that counseling delivers great benefits to many people. But it’s hard to say exactly what that means for you. Credit... Illustration by Dadu Shin Supported by By Susan Dominus Open this article in the New York Times Audio app on iOS. In my late 20s, living alone in New York, I found myself in the grip of a dark confusion, unclear of how to proceed — and so I started seeing a therapist. During most visits, I sat in a chair with a box of tissues on the small table beside it, but the office also held a couch, on which I occasionally reclined, staring at the ceiling as I wrestled with what I was doing with my life, and even what I was doing in that office. Back then, therapy was still perceived in some circles as a rarefied recourse for the irredeemably neurotic. I was embarrassed that I seemed to need it, and I could hardly afford the expense. It ate up so much of my pay that I sometimes daydream about the little house in the Catskills that I might now enjoy had I invested

Research shows that counseling delivers great benefits to many people. But it’s hard to say exactly what that means for you. Credit... Illustration by Dadu Shin Supported by By Susan Dominus Open this article in the New York Times Audio app on iOS. In my late 20s, living alone in New York, I found myself in the grip of a dark confusion, unclear of how to proceed — and so I started seeing a therapist. During most visits, I sat in a chair with a box of tissues on the small table beside it, but the office also held a couch, on which I occasionally reclined, staring at the ceiling as I wrestled wi