About what percentage of people in the Western world do you think could benefit from weekly psychiatric or mental health therapy?

[MCheetah]

I spent 14 years seeing a psychologist, in one form or another. It helped a little. But I think it depends on how psychologically f*cked up you are, and I was the kind of person that literally needed an entire panel of world-class experts in order to "fix."

About 90% of people or more could use mental health counseling.

About 75% of people could use mental health counseling.

About 60% of people could use mental health counseling.

About 45% of people could use mental health counseling.

About 30% of people could use mental health counseling.

About 15% of people could use mental health counseling.

In my opinion, no one really needs mental health counseling at all.

[Dinklex3]

You don't need to be psychologically "fucked up" to benefit from seeking mental health. Everyone has different goals. It depends entirely on how much you, the pt put into your own care.
They can't force you do anything or take take their suggestions into consideration.
People with mild stressors can benefit, as can people who are suicidal.
& Sometimes, just having someone to talk and validate yourself can help as well.
People need to get to the point where they don't have to see MH weekly and are able to function and use their resources themselves.
I do think everyone can benefit from stress management.

[Aerissa_Jade]

All those who do not enjoy going to work each day, but have to force themselves often end up depressed and perhaps it could help them. Last I heard 3 out of 4 people were this way. Only 25% of people liked their jobs.

I picked 75% as a result.

[MCheetah]

Are you one of those three out of four?

[Aerissa_Jade]

Not at the moment, but I could see that happening down the road.

Technically I want to just skip January as it is our busiest craziest month of the year, and we get overwhelmed and swamped with too much work but but it gets better by March-April until September is our second busiest time of the year.

[Aerissa_Jade]

Thanks for MHO

[Nomoturtle]

I can't help but see a psychologist/therapist as basically a qualified rent-a-friend. While most people could probably benefit from that, I don't see it as a necessary profession, those people should talk to their friends and family rather than paying a stranger to pretend to care.

I guess it could be useful in some situations to have someone unbiased, distant, and expendable, unlike your friends/family. But talk to a priest I guess, traditionally similar occupation and they won't charge you.

Let me know any useful advice you got from a therapist/psychologist/counselor.

[MCheetah]

I completely disagree.
A lot of people don't have friends/family to talk to and even if they did, many don't want to put their emotional baggage onto them. If all you did was complain to your friends, they probably wouldn't stay your friend for too much longer. Also, many of them aren't just "sit and vent" types. They will give you actual feedback and things to go out and do in the real world. But just like dating, finding a GOOD psychologist is hard. I've seen 13 in my life and only 3 or 4 of them were ones I'd go back to today.

My therapist - a lady I saw from 2004 to 2016 (she moved back to Chicago) - told me to appreciate little things more, work on small victories, to take life one step at a time, to not plan things too far out in the future (to avoid disappointment if those things don't come true), to not be a perfectionist, to not live life for women's validations, and most importantly (cause she was very honest), that most people are morons and not worth caring about the opinions of. All of this I just paraphrased and shortened for this one comment, of course.

[Nomoturtle]

@mcheetah Sure, I don't disagree with you on some special utilities that I also mentioned, but I just don't think they're generally especially useful, not much better than an actual friend.
Indeed, most of the advice you mentioned I've already heard from friends, random people online, or thought of. Not to say it wasn't potentially extremely useful to you, but it's not especially profound, or at least not worth paying a huge sum for.

I've only been to 2 school counselors and a psychologist, not nearly as much experience as you and perhaps that's the issue in not finding a good one, but still, they seem overrated to me.

[MCheetah]

My insurance fully paid for my sessions, but I can see people not liking them if they had to pay over $100 an hour to see one. Generally, there's three types of psychologists in my opinion.
The ones who just sit there and don't actually say or do anything, hoping you'll figure out your own problems and they can take the credit for it.
Ones who give you sh*tty or impractical advice (to lose weight, just jog five miles everyday or go to the gym 6 hours every single day and live off water) and then complain to you or accuse you of being stubborn when you don't follow their sh*tty advice.
And then, there's the actual third ones, which try to give you an unbiased second opinion and to give you realistic steps to improving your mood and mindset. These are usually Cognitive Behavior Therapists and were the hard-to-find ones I talked about.

But I still think that most people don't want to burden their friends with negativity or expect friends to help them with mental health issues.

[Massageman]

I suppose I should say everyone does since my wife is a counselor, but I won't.

The vast majority of us would likely benefit from a neutral party with mental health training being available to us to help us through some of the difficult changes and challenges in life.

[Massageman]

Thank you for the MHO.

[Fuentes]

When i was young i saw a counselor for anger issues she taught me methods and after a few months i never saw her again. But i carried some of those methods with me and now i don't ever get overly mad and haven't since i been an adult

[MCheetah]

I'm curious what some of those methods are. Not that I need anger counseling.

[Fuentes]

Just to think before. i do i know thats easy for most but for me it was not so i would think about my anger and reaction in that moment and the out come all in a short time & if mr getting mad and losing it, is worth it and when i get angry in my mind & don't react it goes away. Also walking when i use to get super angry i would be mad the whole day & i could walk forever due to the adrenaline until it was gone. Now i don't deal with anger issues in my adult years

[MCheetah]

Thanks for sharing.
When I used to get angry in my early 20s, I'd walk away and go jogging or something until I couldn't breathe anymore.

[420Rachel]

It's hard to gauge a percentage tbh.. but I'd definitely say a good majority of folks would do benefit from it, even if just a little. I'd say like 75% maybe.

[bean2k21]

I heard a statistic once that 1 in 4 people suffer from a mental disorder. Think about that next time you're in line at the bank. Just look around you and think, "Ok, which one of you mother fuckers is clinically bat shit?"

[Sorue]

Well over 75 %. People go to the doctor for just a cold sometimes. If you have a troubled mind, even if it's little or you just need advice, you can go to the 'mind doctor' That's how I see it. You don't need to wait until you're depressed.

[lightbulb27]

we change the oil in our cars every 4 months or so, but no mental/emotional health checkups... in this stressful world. around 45% min.

[lightbulb27]

however... if you've dealt with this issue... even the "crazy" think they are right. this is a mess or right and wrong with many problems associated.

[Adam1978]

I don't know, I would like to say great majority of the younger generation. But then I think of how many bad advice they can get if it's a broken therapist involved.

[Slim57]

Well if you're like me, or yourself as stated, then it's a 0% chance as it didn't really help much, but it works for some people, so maybe 50% because it can benefit some and not so much others

[JosyJosy]

I'd go 70-80% on this one

[boobliker]

just some one to unload on is just so help full

[Dchrls78104]

At least 50%, especially in America.

[ALewis30]

50%-%60 sounds about right.

[JesseJayNeak]

3/4. One more, one less

[fireforeffect]

Pretty much every Democrat.

[CuriousMufuxka]

Seems like a high paying career!