5 Reasons You Shouldn't Go For Therapy
There are many really good reasons not to go for psychotherapy. These are legitimate, true considerations that make a lot of sense. It might be best to simply stay home.
On the other hand, therapy can help you be happier, make more money, and feel less lonely. It can allow you to conquer anxiety, shake negative moods, and reach your potential.
Here are the top 5 reasons to think about staying away from psychotherapy (with some answers):
1) Therapy is expensive!
Yes. It is. Psychotherapy with a licensed, experienced therapist can easily run $300 a session. Since most therapy consists of more than one meeting, you have to multiply that cost by the number of sessions. In addition, many of the best therapists are “out of network,” which means that insurance companies don’t cover therapy or only reimburse a bit for each session.
Psychotherapists invest a tremendous amount of time, effort and energy in their education, developing their expertise, and working with their clients. They might deserve the money they charge and it is often well spent. At the same time, price can be a bar that holds many back from therapy.
The answer: Lisning.com. Lisning.com is a new website I designed that provides text message therapy the way it is supposed to be. I created and developed Lisning to give people the best therapeutic experience possible. It features expert therapists and coaches that are caring, honest, and sincere. The price barrier to entry is extremely low. Sessions with an expert start at $29 a week! You can’t beat that price. Even if you think you can’t afford that, pass on a few lattes and you’re good to go.
I am sure you will love therapy on Lisning.com. But...if you don’t, you can get a full refund. No questions asked. It’s win - win - win!
2) Therapy takes so much time
Right again. The average psychotherapy session lasts 45 - 50 minutes, once a week. There are times that one meets more frequently, and sometimes less often. It’s a commitment. Then you have to include the time it takes to get there and back. If you’re meeting your therapist week after week it takes a lot of time. If you are working, you need to find someone right near your office, or open at night or on the weekend. It’s not so easy.
Answer again? Lisning.com is text message therapy, all online. It uses a different model. Instead of meeting with a therapist at a scheduled time, you write as much as you want, as often as you want. Your therapist responds to you frequently, on a reliable schedule. You can write on your own time, read on your own time, and think on your own time. It’s like taking the 45 minutes of a session and spreading it throughout the week. Not only can you fit it into your schedule, it actually helps the therapeutic relationship develop quickly. The frequent, smaller doses of therapy are consistent and dependable. They work to help you create a deep, caring, connecting relationship. Think about it. Which would you prefer...one huge latte once a week, or several delicious ones throughout each day?
3) I can’t find a good therapist near me
It is hard. Therapy is both an art and a science. There are many therapists out there. Not every licensed therapist is going to “get you.” You have your own rhythm and tune and your therapist needs to be in sync with that. If you are restricted by your location...agghh! How can you find someone to work with? That’s why many people find therapists by referral. Even so, it can be hard to find a referral source that understands what you need. What worked for your friend or family member, or the name that your doctor or clergy person knows, might not work for you.
Here’s the answer: You guessed it...Lisning.com. When I designed Lisning, I looked around. I noticed that there are some platforms that claim to offer text message therapy. There’s a big, big problem with them. They operate like the CIA and NSA - shrouded in secrecy. You can’t choose your therapist. You merely fill out a form and they match you with someone. The best they offer is that if you’re not satisfied, they’ll pair you with a different therapist. I couldn’t believe it! It sounds like George Orwell’s book Nineteen Eighty Four, where everyone is under constant surveillance by a supreme agency known as “Big Brother.”Why can’t everyone choose their own therapist?
I understood that it worked for those companies’ business model. They want to be able to make sure all the therapists on their site have clients. So they take charge of assigning people evenly to different therapists. It might work for business - but it doesn’t work for therapy. How can they take away the power of choice? In fact, those sites are run by businessmen, trying to make a profit from the therapy. I was determined to create something very different.
On Lisning.com, each therapist fills out a detailed profile. You get to know them and see their training, education, and expertise. You can sense their personality and feel if you would like to work with them. I believe that a relationship should be based on honesty, openness, and truth. You decide...not Big Brother! Also, therapists on Lisning get paid fairly, while keeping therapy economical for clients. This is therapy the way it should be.
4) I don’t feel comfortable going for therapy
How true! How could you? Therapy often brings up discussions you don’t want to have. Some deep part of you might ache to talk about them, but often they are not pleasant or easy to bring up. When you are sitting with another person, no matter how good of a therapist they are, it can be challenging to talk about uncomfortable things. For some people, even the act of going to a therapist’s office can be shameful. As a society, we have made major leaps in normalizing therapy. It no longer is the taboo that it used to be. Still, it can be hard to bring yourself to go. Once you’re there, it can be hard to have conversations about difficult topics.
The answer: Lisning.com anonymity. Your therapist does not need to know anything about you. You send messages with complete confidentiality. You can choose an alias and not share anything about yourself you don’t want to. As the therapy progresses, you might want to tell your therapist more about yourself. You are welcome to, but you don’t have to. You discuss it on your own time, when you feel comfortable. Perhaps all therapy should be that way...your name is no different than other personal information. Share it when you want to. It is unusual for in person therapy, but it’s the way we work on Lisning.com. Share when you care.
5) I’m not sure if I need therapy or life coaching
That’s tough. For many decades, psychology focused on curing mental disease. In the US, most government spending on psychology also was in that direction. More recently, psychologists and therapists began taking techniques that focused on mental illness and using them to help people maximize themselves. This is sometimes known as positive psychology. (It was discussed in detail in the January 2000 edition of American Psychologist and introduced by this famous article, Positive Psychology: An Introduction). Life coaching is on that spectrum between psychotherapy for a disorder and to be the best you can be. It helps people find techniques and ways of accomplishing their goals.
Accordingly, you can view mental health as a continuum. Some people have a more pronounced mental health issue which encourages them to seek therapy right away. Others have the same issue, but less intensely. It still prevents them from reaching their potential, but the urge to see therapy isn’t the same. Both people can benefit from therapy or coaching.
Let’s take anxiety as an example. If anxiety severely hampers a person’s functioning, she might be pressed and seek therapy right away. If someone has low levels of anxiety, it is probably hampering her ability to achieve financial success, have a more connected relationship, and maximize her potential. She is still functioning pretty well. So well that she is convinced that she doesn’t need therapy. Yet, if she would, she could make more money, have even better relationships, and be happier. Isn’t it a crime for her not to go for therapy?
Often, whether you call it “therapy” or “coaching,” the difference in name only. Many experienced psychotherapists can intervene for a mental health disorder, practice positive psychology, or be life coaches. On Lisning.com, we call all our experts coaches. They are there to provide life coaching, help with a mental health condition, and everything in between. We use the term “coach” for all our experts because it gives them the freedom to be there for whatever you need from them.
One last thing. On those Big Brother sites, they tout the fact that they have “licensed therapists.” Did you know that no psychology, social work, or counseling license covers text message therapy? Licensure covers in-person therapy and sometimes has something to say about video therapy. Text therapy is completely not governed by licensure, in any state. Advertising that therapists are licensed for text therapy is like an airline saying all their pilots have driver’s licenses!
Lisning.com is truthful and honest. You can plainly see each coach’s education, degree and licensure. It is open and free to see. Our whole platform is based, and built, on honesty, truthfulness, and real relationships. We don’t use false marketing to pretend licensing applies where it doesn’t.
Come Aboard!
In my private practice, I favor deep, insightful discussions that explore who a person is. At first, i was resistant to the idea of message therapy. Then I thought a lot about it. I noticed that the linchpin of meaningful psychotherapeutic work is the relationship between a client and his therapist. This is often called the therapeutic alliance. I wanted to find a way to bottle the power of that therapeutic alliance and with access to therapists beyond one’s locale, at a price that was both fair for therapists and very much affordable for clients. I designed Lisning based on the integrity, sincerity and focus on relationships that I use in my in-person therapy practice. I aim to bring those principles to a wide audience, using technology, talented experts, at an affordable price. How could you resist joining?!
Come explore Lisning.com. Get to know our stellar coaches. Browse their extensive profiles. Sign up and take a giant step forward to your happiest, richest, and most fulfilling life. Your best self is waiting to meet you!
Shmuel Maybruch, LCSW is the Clinical Director of Lisning.com and a psychotherapist in private practice.
- Jan 27, 2019
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