Why Modern Therapy Might Be Doing More Harm Than Good

Disclaimer: If you think you need mental therapy, go for it. There's no shame in asking for help.

The general consensus is that younger generation is more open about their mental well-being as opposed to the older generations. Older generations (Gen X, boomers, and even millennials to some extent) are considered to suppress anxiety/stress and sugarcoat it with alternate reasons.  "To suck it up and keep moving" as people would put it. I believe, to some degree, this mental model of sucking it up and keep moving might actually be beneficial to an individual.

You see, mental health and physical health go hand in hand. They both affect each other and a good symbiosis between them is required if you want to be a healthy person overall. Imagine this for a second - you get a very small cut on your finger. Sure it hurts a little but you know that it's something you don't have to worry about. Your body will take care of the healing process and you also know that this small of a cut doesn't require any medical supervision/emergency. The cut heals as you continue with your life and your body becomes more resilient along the way.

I believe similar thing happens with your mental well-being. You go through particular mood changes because of external circumstances but if the issue is small enough, your brain+body handles the healing process while you get distracted with other stuff. Your brain has this sort of barometer to notify you when the pressure of the mood change is significant and that you should take action. And just like we were trained as kids when to and when not to ignore a cut on the finger, we should also get trained on when to and when not to ignore the brain signal.

Your brain has this sort of barometer to notify you when the pressure of the mood change is significant and that you should take action

Now, coming back to the topic why modern therapy might cause more issue than it resolves - a lot of times people seek therapy for which might be considered a very mundane issue. Should you see a doctor if you think you need to? Sure. But I feel like adults should also learn to listen to their body/mind and realize what is the right time to go to the doctor. Going to a therapist right away because you are getting stressed by a minor conversation might do more harm than good. You are not giving yourself enough time to absorb, observe the situation, and form an opinion by yourself. And depending on the therapist that you are seeing, you might start to rely more and more on them to settle things that you are already capable of handling.

You are not giving yourself enough time to absorb, observe the situation, and form an opinion by yourself.

I've had friends whose parents were over-protective. Anytime they got even a scratch in the playground, the mom would run with an emergency box and treat the scratch as if it's a life-threatening wound. And guess what? Those friends grew up to be very paranoid with any slight physical changes. Your neck is hurting a bit after you woke up? Oh no! It might a tumor growing under your skin. And as a consequence, their health is unfortunately worse than their peers of similar age.

People these days use mental therapy as a way of getting coddled. Things appear way worse than they actually are when you are always being coddled. Before rushing to schedule a therapy, ask yourself this - "Am I really bothered by this?". A lot of times the answer is just a simple shoulder shrug and you might realize that the stuff you are worrying about may as well be very insignificant compared to the bigger picture.