A lot has been written about mental health in the workplace and the risks of sharing a mental illness with coworkers or employers; however, it’s time to address the unfortunate, widespread stigma that still exists about mental health and therapy in America.

Misguided notions about what really goes on in a practicing therapist’s office often come from novels or television. Therapists are often portrayed as incompetent hacks, more disturbed than their clients. Some scenes are good, some bad, and others downright comical. There are numerous myths about therapy that continue to show up in the written word, on the screen, and in the workplace. Here are ten of the most common ones:

1. People who seek therapy are weak, mentally ill, or crazy. Nowadays if you seek treatment, it’s often viewed as a sign of resourcefulness. The average therapy client struggles with many of the same problems we all struggle with daily: relationships, self-doubt, confidence, self-esteem, work-life stress, life transitions, depression, and anxiety. The preferred designation for the person in therapy is “client,” not “patient,” for that very reason.
2. Psychotherapists sit behind desks taking notes while you lie on a couch. This is rarely the case. Trained clinicians know that the arrangement and distance between them and the client are critical for a safe and workable therapeutic alliance. Psychological or physical separation from the client can create subtle authority and intimidation and an inability on the client’s part to fully connect and disclose information pertinent to treatment. The typical therapeutic setting is much like your living room where both parties sit in comfortable chairs without barriers between them. Good therapists often ask if the distance is comfortable and refrain from taking notes until after the session so they can be present with clients.
3. Psychotherapists and clients become best friends. There is no basis in the myth often seen in literature that you pay a therapist to be nice to you and care for you. The therapeutic relationship is a psychologically intimate but strictly professional one. It’s the therapist’s absolute commitment and requirement of ethics and law that the relationship is limited to counseling sessions and necessary email, phone, or text contacts. Clinicians who break the boundary between a professional relationship and friendship can lose their licenses for such infractions. The client’s name and personal story are strictly confidential.
4. Psychotherapy is mostly just talk. Therapy isn’t passive. With today’s cutting-edge therapies, clinicians are trained in experiential and therapist-led modalities that engage both parties in an interactive, collaborative process based on dialogue and the client’s active engagement in joint problem-solving. Together therapists and clients identify problems, set goals, and monitor progress sometimes with homework and reading assignments as part of the process.
5. Therapists have ready-made solutions for all of life’s problems. What is important in establishing the therapist-client alliance is not what the therapist thinks is important to bring about change but what the client thinks is important. A good therapist tailors treatment sessions around the needs of clients instead of plugging clients into ready-made formulas. In so doing, clinicians listen not just to the content of the story but for deeper themes and patterns that undergird the stories. This allows the professional to mirror feedback based on these emerging themes and patterns that can facilitate change, not just the repetitive words and phrases that clients supply.
6. Psychotherapists blame a client’s problem on their upbringing. Despite the theatric antics of Dr. Phil, a well-trained therapist doesn’t blame or shame. They don’t blame clients or their parents. They bring an objective, bird’s-eye perspective to help clients see the water they’re swimming in and allow them to take responsibility for their lives. Professional therapists never admonish, blame, or shame clients into change.
7. Psychotherapists can prescribe medication. The term “psychotherapist” is a broad umbrella that includes a number of licensed mental health professionals. Although this practice has changed in some states, generally speaking, psychotherapists are trained in the skill of helping clients work through their problems. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who usually limit their practices to prescribing and monitoring psychotropic medications while working with psychotherapists who conduct the therapy itself.
8. Psychotherapy can solve problems in one or two sessions. While convenient for the novel or television show to have a character “fixed” in a session or two, it doesn’t work that way in real life. The average session is around 50 to 60 minutes and the first session is basically an intake and getting acquainted session. To get to the heart of a problem, therapy takes many more sessions over time. On the flip side, therapy rarely takes years. Generally speaking, something’s not working when a client works with the same therapist for excessively long periods of time. The average therapy course is three to four months.
9. Psychotherapists believe that personality is cemented by age 5. The belief that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks is perhaps the biggest myth of all. Neuroscientists have shown that the brain is malleable. Researchers, using the latest in MRI brain imaging technology, have shown that meditation naturally and beneficially increases the neural mass (gray matter) of the brain by harnessing the brain’s “neuroplastic” potential. Some therapy techniques utilize treatment based on neuroplasticity—the creation of new neural pathways in the brain and thus the potential for new beliefs and behaviors throughout life.
10. Psychotherapists make clients feel immediately better after each session. Clients are not cars, and therapists aren’t mechanics. Clients are active participants while therapists help them face and uncover whatever is bothering them. That process takes time and can be initially difficult and painful. Having feelings stirred up is part of the therapeutic process. When therapists describe the healing trajectory, we often say sometimes things get worse before they get better. But skilled therapists are trained on how to lead clients through the storm into the calm.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-rightmindset/202005/10-common-myths-about-therapy