Is it normal that loads of people i know go to therapy

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18 Comments

I’ve found out that loads of my friends and one of my ex boyfriends who I still talk to are all in therapy for various issues. It seems like most young people nowadays are in some sort of therapy or counselling.

For example, one of my friends sees a therapist for her ‘panic attacks’ and anxiety’ and my ex boyfriend has ‘PTSD’ and ‘depression’ which he says he got from being bullied at school when he was a child. I feel like they are over reacting and are just over emotional people who need to get over themselves and toughen up.

They are also always usually the kind of people who cry in public and make a big embarrassing scene. One time I was out at this festival thing in my town with the friend I have mentioned and she randomly started screaming and crying because she didn’t like the crowd. It was pathetic and I just walked away until she had finished her outburst.

Also the ex bf would cry every time I told him I didn’t love him and wasn’t planning to stay with him forever, then he would tell his therapist that he wanted to shoot himself.

I also know several other people who see some sort of counsellor. Surely all these people are just over reacting/over emotional and taking advantage of NHS services they don’t actually need just because they think it looks cool and edgy to be in therapy.

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92% Normal
Based on 12 votes (11 yes)
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Comments ( 18 )
  • KholatKhult
    3 years ago | pl

    I’m a huge therapy advocate, I recommend trying therapy to people even if they “don’t have any problems” just because it’s a nice way to figure some things out or even catch little hiccups that you weren’t entirely aware of before.

    There is no negative side to therapy besides maybe the price tag. I’ve paid for multiple first-time sessions for people just to try it out and see if it could help them through some things.

    The whole anti-therapy stigma is weird and childish. Why put someone down for trying to better themselves? Making sure you have a well balanced personality and mental health not only helps you, but all of the people you interact with.

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    • Vvaas
      3 years ago

      h

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  • freelarking
    3 years ago

    Mental health should be treated like physical health. It's just a shame most regular insurance doesn't cover it the same.

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  • Boojum
    3 years ago

    Two possibilities:

    1) You happen to be incredibly well-adjusted apart from a huge hole where most people have empathy and concern for those they consider friends.

    2) Your lack of empathy is symptomatic of your psychopathy, and the reason you belittle the whole concept of therapy and counselling is that you're intelligent enough to suspect that you're actually very fucked-up under the civilised veneer you present to the world, and you're terrified that a therapist would force you to acknowledge your pathology.

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    • KholatKhult
      3 years ago

      I remember talking to some older guys about therapy and hearing them talk about how younger generations have “gone soft” and how back in their father’s day the men would just suck it up and handle it on their own.

      Come to pick up that most all of them were riddled with alcoholism and had nasty habits of violence or anger

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      • Boojum
        3 years ago

        PTSD is not something that was invented to excuse the psychological weakness of the modern generation. People who go through traumatic experiences have always been altered by those experiences. Throughout history, some of the men who came home from war were very different people to the guys who cheerfully marched off looking for glory.

        Most people are capable of eventually coming to terms with traumatic events, but some people are left with life-altering psychological damage. Why some people are more susceptible to this than others isn't clear, but genes and the size of certain areas of the brain do seem to be risk factors.

        I guess the generation the old guys were talking about were those who went through the Great Patriotic War. Given everything that happened in the Soviet Union during that period, I'm sure a huge number of people - both soldiers and civilians - were left damaged. Since the problem wasn't acknowledged and they weren't given any help in coming to terms with it, it's hardly surprising that some self-medicated with alcohol and/or were subject to outbursts of rage which they themselves didn't understand.

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    • RoseIsabella
      3 years ago

      OP could be a narcissist, or sociopath, maybe he, or she is in denial of his, or her own feelings in an attempt to feel stronger. You know that old saying, "if you spot it you got it"? I think it's possible that OP is getting upset with these people, and their supposed over emotionality, because that's the thing that he, or she hates about him, or herself.

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  • Bluishorange
    3 years ago

    You sound like a troll mocking the pain of your friends, real nice. But there are studies (sorry, can't site them) that show how children who are not exposed to risk at a young age have a difficult time managing stress as adults. These friends with panic disorder and social anxiety probably had overprotective parents. It's a shame, but not something you should shame someone for, shame on you.

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    • SkullsNRoses
      3 years ago

      I suspect this is my_life_my_way, she hates all emotion especially in men.

      Fantastic last sentence by the way.

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      • my_life_my_way
        3 years ago

        It is

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        • 1234tellmethatyoulovememore
          3 years ago

          Why are you so miserable

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          • Boojum
            3 years ago

            my_life isn't miserable; she's either way over on the whacko end of the psychopathy spectrum, or she's good at role-playing psychopathy.

            Since she convincingly claims to be studying to be a lawyer, my money is on her actually being a psychopath.

            The only thing which might argue against this is now she keeps popping up here asking this sort of question. Apart from the attention-seeking trolls, most posters here are either seeking clarity about some confusing situation, trying to become a better person or looking for validation. Psychopaths have an unshakeable belief that they're always right, and they care about the feelings and opinions of others only insofar as they can be used to manipulate them to achieve the psychopath's selfish goals. So I suspect my_way is here seeking data for the cold, calculating machine between her ears which will allow her to more accurately feign the responses of a well-adjusted person.

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            • my_life_my_way
              3 years ago

              It’s not that deep, I just don’t think it’s normal for a significant portion of my friends/ex boyfriends to be in therapy or to start screaming and having a ‘panic attack’ in public.

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          • my_life_my_way
            3 years ago

            I’m not miserable, except when my friends are having an over the top ‘panic attack’ in public and embarrassing me. I just don’t think that’s normal, that’s all.

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  • Mammal-lover
    3 years ago

    Who thinks it looks cool or edgy to be in therapy? Anyone who says that probably does need therapy

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  • SwickDinging
    3 years ago

    I am from the UK and now live in Australia, and I don't think I know anyone who has had therapy. Maybe I do and they just don't talk about it because of the stigma.

    I've heard that in America it is very common for people to have therapy, but I have never been so I can't really say for sure.

    It probably isn't something that I will ever do, but I can't see the harm in it for people who want it and I don't really understand why you seem to have such an issue with it. No one is forcing you to have therapy.

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  • RoseIsabella
    3 years ago

    I think you should stay away from these people, because they annoy you, and your invalidation is probably making them feel worse.

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  • [Old Memory]
    3 years ago

    Sounds like a troll to me.

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