All along the way through our history, any people of high intelligence have been looked at with a doubtful eye. At some points in time, whole groups of intelligent people were slaughtered because their beliefs or inventions were “heretical” or were “corrupting young minds”. Along with this constant fight between conservatism and liberalism, a bunch of myths about psychotherapy sprawled out and have somehow manage to stay through the many years that have passed since this science made its first moves into the open.
Only crazy people seek help? Wrong!
The first and most ridiculous of all myths about psychotherapy, is that only lunatics seek help. Yes, the common misconception is that “crazy” people seek therapists to help them through their troubles. That could not be farther from the actual truth. In the USA alone, one in three people have retained the services of a therapist in the last two years. People seek out professional help for all sorts of worries – you can be perfectly healthy, both mentally and physically, and still seek guidance from a therapist. It could be couple’s therapy where you help overcome your differences, it could be you need someone to talk to after a horrible event, or just a strange dream that keeps coming back and you wish to discuss with a professional. Therapy is for everyone, and you could just go once in order to solve your issue – most people do not stay in therapy more than six months at a time.
They only tell you what you want to hear – as if!
The second biggest myth is that psychologists only tell you what you want to hear. That is just silly. If you want to pay someone in order to hear what you want to hear, go seek a fortune teller. Psychologists go through many years of professional studies in order to understand the human brain and the detailed structure of it. Yes, the psychologist and therapist will always try to maintain a positive atmosphere, especially in the very beginning, in order for you to trust him or her. With time though, they will reach into your closet and force you to clean up your skeletons. It is all a matter of time.