Thinking about therapy
These pages are for working out whether therapy might help you. They cover what therapy involves, how well it tends to work, how it fits alongside medication, and when something other than therapy might help more.
- Would I benefit from therapy?A better question than whether things are bad enough, what people actually bring to therapy, why the rebate has a test and therapy doesn't, the cheapest ways to find out without committing, and when something else would help more.
- What therapy actually isWhat happens in a session, what the words counselling, psychotherapy and therapy actually mean in Australia, how it differs from talking to a friend or to an app, and how long it usually goes on for.
- Does therapy actually work?What the research shows about whether therapy helps, how many people it doesn't help, how many come out worse and whether therapy caused it, how much the type of therapy matters, how much the individual therapist matters, and what Australian data says about all of it.
- Therapy and medicationWhat the research says about therapy and medication together, where guidelines put each one, who can prescribe medication, and what to do if you're wondering about adding therapy, avoiding medication, or stopping.
- When it isn't therapy you needSleep, alcohol, money, work, grief, an unchecked physical cause and safety at home all produce something that feels like a mental health problem, and each has its own answer — what to do about them, and where therapy still fits.