Therapy Isn’t Just Talking About Problems – Here’s Why

Therapy is more than just talking about your problems. It’s a powerful platform for learning and healing. Therapy eases emotional distress, and can jump start your ability to move forward, practice more effective strategies, make more intentional decisions, and be healthier and more resilient overall – both mentally and physically.

Using your mind to develop your brain through the process of therapy facilitates a higher level of functioning in general,  and can enhance your life and the lives of those around you  – no matter what your situation.

A Ph.D. clinical psychologist is a doctoral level expert of the mind and heart, who undergoes at least 5 years of rigorous academic work after college, accompanied by extensive supervised experience treating patients along the way and following academic training. A psychologist’s training focuses exclusively on understanding how the mind works and how to sort out emotions, thoughts, behavior,  relationships, healthy and unhealthy coping habits, painful and disruptive symptoms and psychological disorders. Importantly, a clinical psychologist knows how to promote psychological growth and change through therapy.

Psychologists do not simply treat psychological disorders and pain. Since the heart and mind are the foundation of most areas of functioning and overall well-being, psychologists can help people in many areas of their lives.

For example,  psychologists can help people improve  performance, act more in line with their values, understand their own and other peoples’ minds and intentions, navigate relationships more effectively, practice higher level interpersonal and communication strategies, discover and develop their identity, become more integrated (versus compartmentalized), maximize their potential,  develop inner peace and strength, feel better physically and emotionally, break destructive patterns, get along better at work and home, make difficult life decisions, cope with adversity, heal past trauma, sort out unhappy relationships, and enhance well-being. Psychologists also guide people in a “big picture” way, for example, helping them find their path in terms of career, love, family, purpose, and spirituality.

Brain, and neural, architecture are activated  by the environment, particularly  early interpersonal experiences.  These early social experiences impact  and stimulate brain development during predetermined “sensitive periods” and shape who we become as a person,  even affecting gene expression – for example whether a gene is turned on or off (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2016).

Because the brain and mind develop in the context of relationships, it follows that psychological healing often requires an interpersonal reparative environment.

Still, many people harbor the belief that seeing a psychologist and being in therapy is a crutch, or a sign of weakness – and that it’s superior to do things on one’s own, so to speak. However, taking the  step to consult with a psychologist, and pursue therapy, is an act of initiative and courage.  In fact, the person who comes into treatment is often healthier than the person in their lives who is not in therapy, when that decision is the  result of disowning one’s vulnerabilities and mistakes, or  failing to be  accountable.  

Moreover, regardless of how helpful a therapist is, therapy isn’t a potion or something a therapist does for or to a  patient.  In order for therapy to be effective, the patient has to actively participate in the process and, apart from the therapy hour,  is out there in the world on their own, without the therapist.  It’s analogous to  improving one’s  performance or learning as a result of having been taught something  or coached.   Interestingly, in that situation no one discredits themselves,  or any  athlete or performer, for having had instruction or lessons.

People often enter into therapy during a time of struggle,  challenge, change or anticipated change, loss, a high stakes decision, or a crisis of sorts. Usually it is when the balance of two sides of an inner conflict has shifted so that the fear of what will happen by staying in the same situation or doing nothing,  becomes greater than the fear of change. In other words, it is when the cost or consequences of avoidance, or failure to address  the problem, becomes greater than the dread or cost of facing it head on. When someone you know needs therapy but is resistant, suggesting a one-time consultation,  rather than an extended commitment to therapy can be more palatable.

Therapy offers a reliable, emotionally regulated, supportive structure with a knowledgeable person outside of the sphere of your personal life to work on improving yourself, your relationships, and how you live your life. It is a safe and private place to express feelings, fears, confusion, worries, secrets, and ideas – without being judged – which provides the scaffolding for more advanced learning and healing.

Effective therapists use a multidimensional approach in which the therapeutic relationship itself is healing, but also functions as a secure base for learning and moving forward in their lives. Helpful therapists genuinely connect with their patients and allow themselves to be impacted. They roll up their sleeves to be fully “with” each person and co-create positive solutions together.

Some of the concrete psychological ways that therapy facilitates change is by helping people become aware of their blind spots, fostering an emotionally titrated climate, diffusing painful feelings and inner conflict, teaching higher level interpersonal and coping strategies, enabling self-expression, and changing unhealthy patterns that obstruct forward progress.

When people are freed up from being stuck in self-defeating patterns or  “survival mode,” they think more creatively, have new perspectives and more choices. These shifts allow people to make more informed decisions, and have greater control over themselves and their lives. 

Psychological disorders have something in common on a biological level that is targeted by the therapeutic process.  When there is psychological dysfunction, the neural networks in the brain that organize awareness, behavior, emotions, cognition, learning, memory and/or sensation are not well integrated or well coordinated. Specifically, they are underdeveloped, under integrated, and/or inadequately regulated, or have become destabilized in at least one of these ways (McTeague, et al.,2020).

Research on therapy and the brain has found that therapy actually changes the brain’s structure and function (American Psychiatric Association, 2020; Cammisuli, & Castelnuovo, 2023). For example, we know that traumatic stress can damage DNA but, also, that therapy can heal the damage (Morath et al., 2014).

Therapy has a positive impact on the brain in various ways such as by increasing brain integration and connectivity (Barsaglini et al.,2014; Young et al.,2017)  and restoring balance. An integrated and more connected brain is smarter and functions more efficiently, similar to an orchestra or band that plays in tandem.

The process of therapy also adds new neuronal connections,  as a result of  learning and practicing new behaviors that lead to a different outcome and sequence of events that never had an opportunity to be discovered. This new learning sets a healthy pattern in motion. Experiencing a different mindset and engaging in healthier behaviors feels better and is positively reinforcing, ultimately providing the basis for sustained life improvement.

American Psychiatric Association. (2020, January 6). Brain imaging shows the impacts of psychotherapy. APA Blogs.https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/brain-imaging-shows-the-impacts-of-psychotherapy

Barsaglini, A., Sartori, G., Benetti, S., Pettersson-Yeo, W., & Mechelli, A. (2014). The effects of psychotherapy on brain function: A systematic and critical review. Progress in Neurobiology, 114, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2013.10.006

Cammisuli, D. M., & Castelnuovo, G. (2023). Neuroscience-based psychotherapy: A position paper. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1101044

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2016).  From best practices to breakthrough impacts: A science-based approach to building a more promising future for young children and families. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. https://developingchild.harvard.edu

McTeague, L. M., Rosenberg, B. M., Lopez, J. W., Carreon, D. M., Huemer, J., Jiang, Y., Chick, C. F., Eickhoff, S. B., & Etkin, A. (2020). Identification of common neural circuit disruptions in emotional processing across psychiatric disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.18111271

Morath, J., Moreno-Villanueva, M., Hamuni, G., Kolassa, S., Ruf-Leuschner, M., Schauer, M., Elbert, T., Bürkle, A., & Kolassa, I. T. (2014). Effects of psychotherapy on DNA strand break accumulation originating from traumatic stress. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 83(5), 289–297. https://doi.org/10.1159/000362739

Vinkers, C. H., Geuze, E., van Rooij, S. J. H., & colleagues. (2021). Successful treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder reverses DNA methylation marks. Molecular Psychiatry, 26, 1264–1271. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-019-0549-3

Young, K. S., Burklund, L. J., Torre, J. B., Saxbe, D., Lieberman, M. D., & Craske, M. G. (2017). Treatment for social anxiety disorder alters functional connectivity in emotion regulation neural circuitry. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 261, 44–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.01.005