Posted by octopusprime on February 17, 2004, at 1:12:15
In reply to Re: cost/benefit analysis of therapy?, posted by jane d on February 16, 2004, at 19:17:34
jane d - your post is very insightful. i know that therapy is not strictly necessary for me right now. i'll keep my job and keep on truckin without it, but i know i'm less than 100% and i could use some guidance.
i just created a savings account so i will use it. i can't keep money in my chequing account. i think it has a leak :). i did actually apply to school, and arrange transcript sending and things. it's not like it's just talk. but change is moving along at a creeping pace, and i feel like i'm just watching the pages on the calendar turn. so now i just wait. and wait and wait and wait.
but i've been through this before - since 1996 i've moved 17 times (some places were repeats) and wherever i go, there i am. i think i was happier in school, but then i did have some crushing depressions and some stunningly bad behaviour there, so maybe i wasn't. who knows?
i am young, i'm hoping for the wisdom of maturity to come to me. would the therapy really help mature me and straighten out some behaviour that i bring on myself? or would i mature faster if i travelled or did something else?
or maybe it's just the weather? i always seem to do better in the spring/summer. therapy won't bring the sun out any faster.
so much to think about.
> I've been thinking about this question myself recently. I'm watching my insurance run out and once it does I will need to decide if there is any way I can pay for therapy myself and then, if I can, is it worth it?
>
> I think theres been some very good advice given here including looking for short term results but most people seem to be pretty strongly pro therapy. I probably should add here that the right therapy for me years ago would have been priceless for who I was at that time. Now I'm less sure.
>
> In my area the cost of therapy is about the same as 2 meals out if that's something you do. Definately worth that. But it's also equal to more than a car payment, over half of the rent on a cheap apartment, much more than my grocery bills, and about equal to the amount all the financial advisors say I absolutely must put away to make sure I have enough money to retire or handle emergencies.
>
> When I started therapy it was an easy decision. Without it I don't think I would have been able to hold a job to retire from. Now I'm trying to cram all the "necessary" stuff in before the insurance runs out and I'm not sure I can. And, this same therapy done a decade ago might mean I wasn't in this lousy financial position at all and I would be balancing therapy against the cost of a couple of meals out. But I also think that for some people it does make more sense to invest your money in a swim membership, a vacation, school, or a savings account. The trick is in figuring out which group you're in.
>
> One thing to consider is will you/can you actually make those other changes on your own? Will you move, go back to school, go to the gym, take a vacation? Or have you been sitting around for years saying - "my life would be better if only I did that" and never knowing why you never manage to do it? Or, have you been doing this for years, moving, taking vacations, and finding out things never get better after all? That one's hard to see for yourself because each time you find your situation making you miserable will be a little different from the time before but it's a good reason to consider therapy.
>
> I wish I could say "Of course. Try therapy. What do you have to lose?" but the cost is high enough that you will be losing something. And the more it's costing the more you need to gain to make it worthwhile.
>
> Jane
poster:octopusprime
thread:313810
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040211/msgs/314454.html