Gettyimages.com/Male therapist takes notes during a counseling session between an African descent mother and mixed-race daughter clients. Family counseling.
It doesn’t happen quite as much as it used to, but you still see it: someone mentions she’s in therapy, and everyone gives a polite smile, an awkward cough, and changes the subject. Moving forward, people can treat the person who said they’re in therapy extremely fragile—like they can’t handle a real, grown-up conversation. The reality is that the person in therapy might just be the strongest person in that circle—especially if everyone else in that circle shies away from the topic of therapy. Then those individuals clearly have some issues to contend with. We need to stop seeing therapy as a dark little secret to be tucked away and never discussed or to assume everyone in therapy is unstable. Here are stigmas around therapy that need to die.
Corbis
Therapists want you to stay unhappy
If you know someone who has been in therapy for years, you might think that their therapist is intentionally keeping them there, so they can keep cashing those paychecks. I mean—how long can therapy really take?
