YOU ARE MY NEW FAVORITE PERSON. Paula Ghete replying to Freya India saying that “not everybody needs therapy”.

I honestly couldn’t have said it better myself. Like, for real, I couldn’t have. You presented a counter argument so beautifully and so detailed that I’m in awe of you.

Also just want to say that the only people I’ve known (and I know plenty) who truly believe they don’t need and won’t benefit from therapy are those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

As you so accurately pointed out, going to a therapist for a mental health check-in once a year should be a standard for everyone in the same way that we go to a medical doctor once a year for a check-up. We don’t have a professional understanding of what’s going on in our body and don’t know what to look for—and it’s the same with our minds.

Are you an expert on your body and mind? Well, sorta. You might understand what your physical body is feeling and you might have a good grasp of the thoughts and feelings in your mind—but your entire interpretation of those things is based on your own experience. Perhaps that’s having a doctor as a BFF or reading PubMed constantly, but most likely it’s through things you’ve learned from other non-professionals and on the internet. And while there are plenty of excellent sources online (I’m a journalist so I look for them constantly), media literacy isn’t really a strong suit for the majority of people.

Also: Even if you DID have a professional understanding of mental health, even therapists go to their own therapists. Nobody holds the entirety of human knowledge about the mind. And even if someone did, it would STILL be inaccurate because every body and mind is different. And none of us know all of the tiny and big things in our lives that negatively (and positively) impact us. So, yeah, talking to someone else who has advanced education? Always a good idea.