We have interviewed 83 people who have overcome struggles with the help of therapy. These stories show that therapy is one of the most powerful ways to overcome struggles of mental health.
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I’ve interviewed 83 people who have been helped by therapy, and here are the top 5 struggles that these people have overcome:
In our many years of publishing helpful mental health content, we always received questions from our readers about specific situations. While we have a lot of helpful tips to share on how to be happier, we simply can’t offer advice for every situation.
That’s why I’ve set out to interview folks with every type of mental health struggle. My job as an interviewer is to categorize these interviews and present them in a way that is most helpful to our readers.
“Accutane came on the market in 1982, I began taking it in 1985, and in 1986 I was feeling very depressed. Accutane had a number of side effects, but the one that impacted me the most was depression; the stats say only 1% of people will have MDD while on Accutane. I was that 1 percent.”
Struggled with:
Addiction
Anxiety
Depression
“After a very emotionally taxing month for me and my fiance, I had an actual mental breakdown. Unable to stop crying, I voluntarily admitted myself to my local psych ward and stayed for a couple of days, ultimately being released after assessment. I realized that I didn’t want to die, I just didn’t want to feel the way I was feeling.”
“Don’t hate yourself for the trauma. The path to happiness is not a single one. There are many ways to be happy so the impossibility to turn back time before trauma does not mean you can never be happy. You can be happy again. You can trust others again. Don’t lose your hope to survive. Someday, you will be thankful for your past self who did not give up your life.”
“Considering the duration of my struggle, anxiety, and depression have been constants in my life. Over the years, I had tried numerous medications and visited countless therapists, but nothing seemed to offer lasting relief. It wasn’t until I discovered these resources, particularly the “DARE” book, that I finally started to see a glimmer of hope and progress toward overcoming my challenges.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Childhood
Depression
Panic attacks
Helped by:
Self-Care
Self-improvement
Therapy
“At 19 years old I had lost all of my independence, I was unable to work, and I couldn’t even make a meal for myself 90% of the time. At this time I was also diagnosed with OCD. I turned 20 completely alone, I couldn’t even leave my room to have happy birthday sung to me.”
Helped by:
Medication
Music
Self-improvement
Therapy
“It’s hard to feel happy when it’s your own head calling you a failure. Since then I’ve been researching ways to help me feel better, and improve in all aspects of life. I know my journey is not complete, but when you’ve been dealing with all of this stuff since you were five, you tend to pick things up.”
“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced because none of it made sense at the time. I didn’t even know I was going through a mental health crisis – I genuinely just thought my relationship was about to end.”
“The best thing my divorced parents ever did for ~9-year-old me was send me to weekly therapy sessions which I’ve kept up most of my life (minus ~2 years in high school). Thanks to growing up with a profound mental health awareness, I promised myself that I was going to commit to a healthier lifestyle by focusing on my emotional well-being first and foremost. Deep inside me, I knew that was how I’d improve everything else.”
“My worst moment was when my husband found me sobbing on the closet floor after I had just come home from work. My boss wanted me to work on something I had no idea how to do or any interest in doing. I already felt stupid and trying to work with a coworker on this project was only going to make me feel worse about myself.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Eating disorder
Helped by:
Medication
Self-improvement
Therapy
“The defining moment came in December 2021 when I was diagnosed with PTSD, a diagnosis that would forever change my life for the better. I now had a thing…something which I could identify…no longer just treat the symptoms but finally dig down to the root cause.”
Helped by:
Medication
Self-improvement
Therapy
