Why Therapy is Important and Its Mental Health Benefits
In recent years, therapy and mental health have become buzzwords – but what actually are the mental health benefits of psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is a fairly broad term that generally refers to clinical work between a therapist and client (or multiple clients) that is centered around working through/with mental health concerns, navigating struggles that make it hard to live your best life, and working towards living a life that feels truly fulfilling, meaningful, and aligned with your values/goals.
There are several different modes of therapy that include individual therapy (one-on-one), couples/relational therapy (including polycules and other nontraditional relationship structures), family therapy, and group therapy. Each of these modes of therapy provides different mental health benefits.
General Benefits of Individual Therapy
In individual therapy, you are working one-on-one with a therapist. This gives you undivided attention for your unique struggles in a way that is different from talking to a close friend, family member, or mentor.
While it is important to have a day-to-day support system, talking to a trained professional who has an unbiased (or, as unbiased as possible since we’re all humans) view of your life provides benefits that can’t be received from other relationships.
With friends, family, colleagues, and mentors, there’s often fear of being “too much” or not wanting to have someone hold responsibility for your struggles. In therapy, it is a space just for you where you don’t have to worry about “triggering” your therapist or trying to balance getting support while also providing support
In addition, therapy is a completely judgment free zone where you can share absolutely anything – even things that you may not want to share with other people in your life. Therapists are trained to hold space for even the heaviest of struggles.
In individual therapy, your therapist may work from one specific modality or framework, or they may integrate elements of multiple modalities. Our therapists at The Gaia Center for Embodied Healing integrate aspects of various different types of therapy to create a customized experience that works best for your unique needs.
Benefits of Specific Therapy Modalities
Research shows that the most important factor impacting the effectiveness and benefits of psychotherapy is the relationship and rapport between therapist and client – however, some specific types of therapy provide additional benefits, beyond traditional talk therapy (which can also be very effective).
Here are some of the mental health benefits of specific types of therapy we use at The Gaia Center:
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ACT helps you learn how to unhook from unhelpful thoughts and painful feelings so that you can have more psychological flexibility and live aligned with your chosen values.
ACT is effective for most presenting concerns, including but not limited to anxiety disorders, depression, chronic pain, OCD, PTSD, substance use, eating disorders, psychosis, stress/burnout, insomnia, and relational challenges.
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EMDR stands for “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing” and is a type of therapy with extensive research that has repeatedly found it to be an effective, evidence-based treatment for helping people recover from PTSD, distressing life experiences, anxiety, and more. You can learn more about EMDR here.
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DBT is a skills-based approach for building greater mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness, and ultimately craft your “life worth living.”
DBT was initially developed for folks with borderline personality disorder (BPD), however, over time, DBT has been adapted and found effective for a variety of other mental health conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, PTSD, eating disorders, self-harm and suicidal behaviors, chronic pain, and ADHD.
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Somatic therapy helps you heal and shift trauma and stuck patterns/beliefs at the root level through body based techniques.
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IFS therapy falls under the larger category of “parts work,” which is an innovative therapeutic approach that views a person as composed of various “parts”, each with its own perspectives and roles.
IFS helps you develop self-compassion and stop feeling at war with yourself by helping relate with all of your inner parts.
Parts Work including IFS can be highly effective for addressing trauma, anxiety, depression, addiction, relationship issues, eating disorders, and can also be applicable to practically any type of psychological distress.
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Brainspotting helps you release neurophysiological sources of trauma, pain, and negative beliefs.
By accessing the brain's deeper, subcortical areas, where traumatic memories and emotions are stored, brainspotting helps individuals process and release these unresolved traumas. This can lead to a significant reduction in PTSD symptoms, such as flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance.
The benefits of Brainspotting extend across a wide range of mental health issues, including trauma, anxiety, depression, and more.
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Hypnotherapy integrates hypnosis and related neuroscience-supported techniques that create change at the subconscious level.
Hypnotherapy helps you access a deeply relaxed state that can help you explore and address underlying causes of anxiety, depression, phobias, bad habits, and more.
Hypnotherapy has also been shown to reduce symptoms of IBS and chronic pain, and with the major connection between physical health and mental health, this can be extremely powerful.
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Music Therapy is a powerful therapeutic approach that uses music to address emotional, cognitive, and social needs. It involves various techniques, such as creating, singing, moving to, and listening to music, to improve mental health and well-being.
It’s no surprise to most people that music can have a profound impact on our emotions and moods. Music therapy leverages this in order to support a wide range of issues including anxiety, depression, trauma, and stress.
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You don’t have to be an artist to benefit from art therapy!
By engaging in various forms of artistic expression, clients can explore emotions, reduce anxiety, increase self-awareness, and improve overall mental health.
Our resident art therapist, Kaitlyn King, says that art therapy is “really about using visual media and creativity as an access route to deeper insights and healing that are often not as accessible through the ‘thinking/talking’ part of our brain.”
General Benefits of Couples/Relationship Therapy
Whether you’re in a state of crisis or just looking to deepen/strengthen your connection with your romantic partner(s) or other people in your life, couples therapy can be extremely beneficial. At The Gaia Center, we believe that relationships are at the core of the human experience.
Whether you are navigating the complexities of marriage / committed partnership, parenting, or family dynamics, our couples / marriage and family therapy services are designed to foster healthy, supportive, and resilient relationships.
At The Gaia Center, our therapists utilize a variety of modalities for couples, families, and relationship counseling, but all of our therapists have training in The Gottman Method – and our founder Valerie Martin has completed Level 3 Gottman Training.
Mental Health Benefits of The Gottman Method
The Gottman method is the most research supported of any couples therapy approach.
The Gottman Method is renowned for its effectiveness in couples therapy, grounded in over four decades of research with thousands of couples. This evidence-based approach focuses on practical, actionable steps to enhance communication, build emotional connection, and manage conflict.
By emphasizing mutual respect and understanding, the Gottman Method helps couples foster deeper intimacy and resilience. Its structured, science-backed techniques are designed to create lasting positive changes, making it the strongest and most reliable approach for couples seeking to strengthen their relationship.
Mental Health Benefits of Premarital Counseling
Premarital counseling offers an opportunity to navigate potential challenges proactively— whereas historically, couples wait an average of 7 years after they started having problems to seek therapy. While it’s still possible for many relationships to heal even in that position, the work is often much more difficult because of the amount of damage and disconnection that has already occurred.
Research shows that couples who engaged in premarital counseling are up to 31% less likely to divorce.
In premarital counseling, you are able to discuss topics you may have already discussed or ones you haven’t discussed related to marriage, with a therapist who doesn’t “have skin in the game” and can provide a neutral, professional perspective.
What is Discernment Counseling and what are the mental health benefits?
Discernment Counseling is designed for couples that are contemplating divorce— especially when one partner is considering it more heavily, while the other hopes to save the marriage.
Being on the brink of divorce understandably takes a considerable toll on your mental health, and discernment counseling helps you determine if your marital problems are solvable – this can help you either find a path forward to solve these issues or a path towards divorce.
While either decision can be challenging, in the long run, it will ultimately support your mental health by getting out of the “limbo” space of decision making.
Mental Health Benefits of Group Therapy
Group therapy offers a unique environment where individuals can share experiences, receive support, and gain insights from others facing similar challenges.
Some of the mental health benefits of group therapy include feeling less alone through shared experiences, building a support network, gaining diverse insights and feedback through varying perspectives, and improving communication and relationship-building skills.
While both individual therapy and group therapy can be incredibly impactful, group therapy has some advantages that 1on1 therapy does not, as it leverages the collective wisdom and support of the group. Sharing your journey with others who understand can lead to profound insights and accelerated personal growth. As Irvin Yalom famously said, “The group becomes a mirror in which one sees oneself more clearly.”
The Unique Benefits of Therapy at The Gaia Center
At The Gaia Center, we truly believe in the importance of therapy. Our approach is unique because of our systemic, social justice informed lens that looks at each client holistically and in the context of the systems they live in – not as someone who exists in a vacuum.
We approach psychotherapy from a systems lens in which the harsh realities of the world around us are inseparable from our own wellbeing, and we are each committed to continuing our own lifelong unlearning of internalized racism, sexism, fat phobia, ableism, and all the other ways society has taught us that people who diverge from the white, thin, cis, hetero “standard” are less-than.
The systems we each individually live in can have a profound impact on our mental health, and therapy that looks at and it is informed by these systems can have far more mental health benefits than therapy that ignores these factors.
In addition, our wide breadth of offerings, including individual, group, family, and couples/relationship counseling make us an ideal choice for whatever approach feels most beneficial for your needs – which may even include engaging in several of these offerings at once!
Summarizing The Mental Health Benefits of Therapy
As you can see, there are a plethora of benefits associated with engaging in psychotherapy. Whether you have a diagnosable mental health condition or you’re simply looking for support in wading through the messiness of life, therapy can help you truly thrive and live your best life. With so many modalities that are available in this day and age, now is an ideal time to start or continue your therapy journey.
If you live in Tennessee and are looking for mental health support, we would be honored to support you either in-person at our office in West Nashville or virtually throughout the state of Tennessee.
You can learn more about getting started by filling out our contact form here to schedule a free 15 minute consultation call or initial session.
