Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhen Therapy Is the Wrong Treatment OptionWhen Therapy Could Even Be DangerousSevere Mental IllnessWhat If You Decide That Therapy Isn’t Right For You at This Time?A Word From Verywell

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Table of Contents

When Therapy Is the Wrong Treatment Option

When Therapy Could Even Be Dangerous

Severe Mental Illness

What If You Decide That Therapy Isn’t Right For You at This Time?

A Word From Verywell

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You may have heard people say that anyone and everyone should go to therapy. And while therapycanbe and is good for many people, like any other kind of health treatment, it might not be the right treatment for everyone.

Knowing when therapyisn’ta good idea for you is as much self-care as going to therapy is. Read on to find out how you can know if therapy is the wrong treatment for you right now. (FYI, just because now’s not the time, doesn’t mean it never will be.)

There are a handful of reasons that therapy might be the wrong treatment option, including time, money, and just not being ready to change yet. Read on to learn when therapy might not be the right thing for you.

Money

Financial constraints may be one of the biggest roadblocks to therapy. While there are somefree and low-cost therapyservices and programs available, the truth is that therapy can be very expensive.

Therapy might end up stretching your budget a bit, but if it puts you in a position of not being able to pay other bills or having to drastically change your lifestyle to afford it, creating another problem for yourself isn’t worth the psychological gains you might achieve.

However, research shows that this can go both ways. Research in England showed that therapy could be up tothirty-two timesmore effective at making one happy than a raise.(This, presumably, is among a population whose basic needs are already met).

However, financial stress can cause mental health issues. And, in low-income cases, therapy may not be helpful when it cannot addresssystemic imbalancesthat lead to poverty. For example, an experiment in Kenya where one low-income group received money and the other low-income group received therapy showed that the group who received money fared better psychologically than the group who received therapy.

The 8 Best Online Therapy Services that Accept Insurance, Tried and Tested

Time

If you are a stressed-out person withlots on your plate—and with nothing that you realistically can remove—trying to carve out an hour for therapy once a week, even if it’s via telehealth, might be more than you have the capacity for.

Too Angry

Yes, it’s possible to be too angry for therapy! If you are in a situation that is either still ongoing or happened recently and is really emotionally raw for you, you might not be ready to process it if you’re not ready to give up that anger.

And that’s fine—anger is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact,angeris one of the original primitive emotions—its primal purpose is to keep us safe.

If you are feeling intense anger right now and the thought of working through it makes you angrier, you might not be ready for therapy, and that’s more than fine! Your anger is keeping you safe if you’re not necessarily ready to be feeling those things.

Cost Remains Significant Barrier to Therapy Access, 2022 Verywell Mind Survey Finds

While therapy is relatively safe generally, there are a few distinct situations where therapy could cause more harm than good, especially since therapy will likely make you feel a little bit worse before you feel better as you explore things you might never have talked about before.

Intimate Partner Violence

In situations ofintimate partner violence, it can actually be dangerous for someone to seek therapy. Their abuser might see the credit charge and get angry, or the therapist might push a client to make a change and leave the partner when that’s not a physically safe option for them at the moment.

In addition, couples therapy is absolutelynotrecommended for those experiencing intimate partner violence because it’s not a problem a couple can solve together, and it places some of the onus of “correcting” the situation on the victim, which is not a realistic expectation.

Leaving the abusive partner is actually the time when the survivor may be most at risk, so it is necessary to have a very thorough plan.

If you or a loved one are a victim of domestic violence, contact theNational Domestic Violence Hotlineat1-800-799-7233for confidential assistance from trained advocates.For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.

If you or a loved one are a victim of domestic violence, contact theNational Domestic Violence Hotlineat1-800-799-7233for confidential assistance from trained advocates.

For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.

Suicidal Ideation or Self-Harming

“When there are high levels ofsuicidal ideationor self-harming behaviors,” saysRacine Renee Henry, PhD,  “it may actually be harmful to start therapy because there’s not enough risk management in place." Dr. Henry notes that other resources are necessary, especially crisis resources like the 988 hotline or the Crisis Text Line at 741 741. The idea is that someone experiencing suicidality or self-harm needs more immediate intervention than traditional therapy can usually provide.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact theNational Suicide Prevention Lifelineat988for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact theNational Suicide Prevention Lifelineat988for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

Severemental illnessis defined as anything in theStructured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID),which includes:

If you have one of the severe mental illnesses above and you’re in an acute phase and/or not on medication, therapy might not be helpful at that time, says Henry. That’s not to say that therapy will never be helpful to those living with these conditions—it’s just that starting therapy in the middle of a severe psychotic or mood episode might not be enough to deal with more serious symptoms.

“However, if youareon medication," Henry advises, “you shouldn’t be without a therapist.”

Research shows that the best combination is therapyandmedication.

Recognize What Your Baseline Is

Dr. Henry recommends thinking about what your baseline might be. In other words, think about who you are when you’re calm and at ease.

Dr. Racine Renee HenryKnow what your own normal is—what your home base is.

Dr. Racine Renee Henry

Know what your own normal is—what your home base is.

To understand what your baseline is, ask yourself the following questions:

She recommends telling a friend and/or writing down a list of those things for yourself and keeping in mind how far you’re deviating from that baseline on any given day.

When you notice that you’re consistently deviating from your baseline, it might be a good time to see a therapist. But, if you feel good and don’t think therapy would be of use to you, then you don’t have to go. However, even attending therapy when you feel good is OK too! You can talk about other things and learn more things about yourself during that time.

Make an Effort to Prioritize Activities That You Enjoy

If you decide that therapy isn’t for you, try to engage in some of your favorite hobbies. Maybe you like to paint or run or go to museums. Fill up your time with things that bring you joy.

Consider Going to Group Therapy

You can find a sense of community and solace knowing that you are not alone in whatever you’re dealing with.

Also, group therapy is often much cheaper than individual therapy.

The Best Online Group Therapy, Tried and Tested

Seek Out a Peer Support Specialist

Peer support specialists are people who have dealt with addiction or mental health disorders and are successfully in recovery. Peer support specialists are certified and they can assist you as you work on recovery.

Even if you’ve heard people say that anyone and everyone can and should go to therapy, sometimes it’s just not what’s best for you at the moment.

Listen to yourself and be respectful of your needs. If it doesn’t feel like the right time or if it’s outside of your budget, deciding not to go to therapy can actually be the right choice.

What to Know About Therapy Termination

9 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Wampold BE. The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work. 2nd ed. Routledge; 2015. doi:10.4324/9780203582015Boyce CJ, Wood AM.Money or mental health: the cost of alleviating psychological distress with monetary compensation versus psychological therapy. HEPL. 2010;5(4):509-516. doi:10.1017/S1744133109990326Haushofer, Johannes & Mudida, Robert & Shapiro, Jeremy, 2021.The Comparative Impact of Cash Transfers and a Psychotherapy Program on Psychological and Economic Well-being.Working Paper Series 1377, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.Gu S, Wang F, Patel NP, Bourgeois JA, Huang JH.A model for basic emotions using observations of behavior in drosophila. Front Psychol. 2019;0. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00781Bray B.Addressing intimate partner violence with clients. Counseling Today.Saul, H. (2024, July 1).Combined drug and psychological therapies may be most effective for depression. NIHR Evidence. https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/combined-drug-and-psychological-therapies-may-be-most-effective-for-depression/Hartgrove Behavioral Health System.When should you consider group therapy? The answer might surprise you.Mental Health America.What Is a Peer?.Miyamoto Y, Sono T.Lessons from peer support among individuals with mental health difficulties: a review of the literature.Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2012;8:22-29. doi:10.2174/1745017901208010022

9 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Wampold BE. The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work. 2nd ed. Routledge; 2015. doi:10.4324/9780203582015Boyce CJ, Wood AM.Money or mental health: the cost of alleviating psychological distress with monetary compensation versus psychological therapy. HEPL. 2010;5(4):509-516. doi:10.1017/S1744133109990326Haushofer, Johannes & Mudida, Robert & Shapiro, Jeremy, 2021.The Comparative Impact of Cash Transfers and a Psychotherapy Program on Psychological and Economic Well-being.Working Paper Series 1377, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.Gu S, Wang F, Patel NP, Bourgeois JA, Huang JH.A model for basic emotions using observations of behavior in drosophila. Front Psychol. 2019;0. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00781Bray B.Addressing intimate partner violence with clients. Counseling Today.Saul, H. (2024, July 1).Combined drug and psychological therapies may be most effective for depression. NIHR Evidence. https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/combined-drug-and-psychological-therapies-may-be-most-effective-for-depression/Hartgrove Behavioral Health System.When should you consider group therapy? The answer might surprise you.Mental Health America.What Is a Peer?.Miyamoto Y, Sono T.Lessons from peer support among individuals with mental health difficulties: a review of the literature.Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2012;8:22-29. doi:10.2174/1745017901208010022

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Wampold BE. The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work. 2nd ed. Routledge; 2015. doi:10.4324/9780203582015Boyce CJ, Wood AM.Money or mental health: the cost of alleviating psychological distress with monetary compensation versus psychological therapy. HEPL. 2010;5(4):509-516. doi:10.1017/S1744133109990326Haushofer, Johannes & Mudida, Robert & Shapiro, Jeremy, 2021.The Comparative Impact of Cash Transfers and a Psychotherapy Program on Psychological and Economic Well-being.Working Paper Series 1377, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.Gu S, Wang F, Patel NP, Bourgeois JA, Huang JH.A model for basic emotions using observations of behavior in drosophila. Front Psychol. 2019;0. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00781Bray B.Addressing intimate partner violence with clients. Counseling Today.Saul, H. (2024, July 1).Combined drug and psychological therapies may be most effective for depression. NIHR Evidence. https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/combined-drug-and-psychological-therapies-may-be-most-effective-for-depression/Hartgrove Behavioral Health System.When should you consider group therapy? The answer might surprise you.Mental Health America.What Is a Peer?.Miyamoto Y, Sono T.Lessons from peer support among individuals with mental health difficulties: a review of the literature.Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2012;8:22-29. doi:10.2174/1745017901208010022

Wampold BE. The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work. 2nd ed. Routledge; 2015. doi:10.4324/9780203582015

Boyce CJ, Wood AM.Money or mental health: the cost of alleviating psychological distress with monetary compensation versus psychological therapy. HEPL. 2010;5(4):509-516. doi:10.1017/S1744133109990326

Haushofer, Johannes & Mudida, Robert & Shapiro, Jeremy, 2021.The Comparative Impact of Cash Transfers and a Psychotherapy Program on Psychological and Economic Well-being.Working Paper Series 1377, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

Gu S, Wang F, Patel NP, Bourgeois JA, Huang JH.A model for basic emotions using observations of behavior in drosophila. Front Psychol. 2019;0. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00781

Bray B.Addressing intimate partner violence with clients. Counseling Today.

Saul, H. (2024, July 1).Combined drug and psychological therapies may be most effective for depression. NIHR Evidence. https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/combined-drug-and-psychological-therapies-may-be-most-effective-for-depression/

Hartgrove Behavioral Health System.When should you consider group therapy? The answer might surprise you.

Mental Health America.What Is a Peer?.

Miyamoto Y, Sono T.Lessons from peer support among individuals with mental health difficulties: a review of the literature.Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2012;8:22-29. doi:10.2174/1745017901208010022

Hannah Owens, LMSW

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