TheRealCallie said:
You can understand and help yourself better than a stranger. Okay, yes, you can, but therein lies part of the problem. You don't have an "outside" perspective. You are stuck in your own thoughts. The point of going to a therapist is NOT for them to "fix you," it's for them to give you additional tools and options to help yourself "fix you."
But isn't that the same as you expecting to get ideas and whatnot from strangers on the internet? I'm not saying it's not helpful to talk to people in the same situation as you, but when it comes to things like depression and loneliness, I'm not sure how much people in the same situation will be able to help you. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to get advice from someone who doesn't have that problem? Or even had that problem in the past and overcame it?
I'm also not saying that you can't help yourself. I think it's entirely possible, partly because I've done it myself. I think it's best to utilize all the tools you have at your disposal. Therapy, forums, doing it yourself, self help books, whatever. But the most important thing is to keep trying, switching it up and doing things differently until you find something that works for you.
Well, as I said, I'm not looking for advice. I just want to feel like what I'm feeling is okay. I want to be able to share my experiences with people and have them understand - truly understand, not just polite, removed, everyone is different, no judgement "understanding".
As for having an outside perspective, what is it exactly that we're looking to have an outside perspective of? "You" are not a single, unified well-defined thing, therefore any perspective that can be had of you will always be only of a certain part of you. So in that sense, you can definitely have an outside perspective of yourself. For example, you were feeling very angry, and now you're not, so that past anger is now in a sense external to you, and you can look at it in a more removed sort of way, and come to different conclusions than you would have if you were still angry.
Of course, it will never be completely "objective", but that's true for any perspective, not just your own - simply because a perspective is inherently subjective. No matter how "certified" or "qualified" another person is, they are still human.
Furthermore, being removed and objective is not always the best course of action when trying to help someone who is struggling. A basic amount of empathy is always required.
So when trying to find a way to navigate difficult experiences, you need a certain balance of involved, first-person perspective and removed, disinterested third-person perspective, and it isn't obvious to me that therapy is the best way to meet that balance. To me, it seems like the worst of both worlds - a person with their own biases and hangups, as all people have, but who doesn't know you intimately and who isn't emotionally invested in you.