Opening Up to Look Within: Fighting the Stigma Against Therapy

Therapy is not a bad word, yet it is hardly mentioned in everyday conversation. The lack of conversation around therapy created a stigma. The stigma surrounding therapy is not a new situation. Stigmatization of therapy was prevalent in the 1950’s despite new, more active therapies that greatly expanded the range of psychological care. 

Therapy is more common than you might think. At least one in five teens struggle with a diagnosed mental health issue 66% of those teenagers receive therapy, yet it is a commonly avoided topic. So what is therapy?

According to GoodTherapy, therapy or counseling, “is the process of meeting with a therapist, a professional who is trained to provide treatment and rehabilitation, to resolve problematic behaviors, beliefs, feelings, relationship issues, and/or sensations in the body.” Since there are many different conditions someone who seeks a therapist can have, there are over 50 different types of therapy one could receive help at. 

A study done by Bradley University with over 20,000 teenagers showed that individuals attending schools with “strong counseling programs reported a higher level of academic achievement; a greater sense of happiness, safety and security at their institution; and fewer problems with socializing and interpersonal relationships.” Results from studies similar to Bradley’s are examples of how lucky students at the School are to have access to such good counselors in all divisions of learning. 

Nevertheless, the stigmatization of mental health continues to be a problem at the School. When talking about therapy it can be tricky. It is such a confidential situation and everyone has different comfort levels of talking about the therapy they receive. Ms. Concannon explained if a student she sees is walking down the hall, she is super careful about not making their relationship public because confidentiality is such an important part of therapy. This paradox is at the heart of the problem: How can we talk about therapy more, but make sure to keep the level of confidentiality where it needs to be?

“I think therapy was created for a reason: to  help people who need it no matter how different their situation is from someone who is standing right next to them,” said an anonymous student at the School, “I don’t think there should be judgement about someone’s personal decision to do therapy because no-one actually knows what’s going on in someone’s life besides the person.”

Another student of the School pointed towards accessibility as the principal problem of therapy: “I have done my fair share of research and I just verified the average cost of therapy is $65-250 an hour, which is ridiculously expensive for most people. In order to destigmatize therapy we need to normalize treatment, and with therapy being so costly it is hard to provide equal access to people.” 

“We talk about mental health and the importance of reaching out if you or someone you know’s mental health is on the line,” said another anonymous Upper-school student. “I feel like we mainly talk about the stereotypical symptoms of conditions like anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, and even classic eating disorders. News flash, those all come in way different forms.  I wish I had realized that depression is not being sad all the time and talking to a therapist isn’t something I should be ashamed of.” 

As a school we should take more steps towards The National Alliance on Mental Illness, which encourages educating yourself and others about the topic, while being conscious of the language you use. In addition to education it encourages being open and honest about treatment, calling pepole out on their stigma discrimination, and encouraging euqality between physical and mental illness.