Reviews (1)

I've been told most of my life that I need to see a therapist to deal with my underlying family issues. As my physical and mental health grew worse and worse, I started to think about therapy seriously. But I have always been closed off to people, especially strangers but even to close friends, so I didn't think therapy would work for me.

Then I found BetterHelp. Since the therapist is communicating with you over chat messaging, I didn't feel like I was being forced to bare my soul to a stranger. I'm not being forced at all, in fact. I can message my therapist any time I feel like it from my phone and say as much or as little as I want and she gets back to me quickly throughout the day. It's like sending a text message to someone to vent about your day or the problem you're dealing with, and knowing that someone is listening to you and doesn't judge you for saying that or doing that.

Because most of the communication is done over chat, it can feel impersonal to some people, but I find it relieving. Since I'm not looking a person in the face, and they aren't staring at me watching for my body language, I can be a bit more honest with them and myself. It's impersonal, so there are no consequences to what you say or do.

Every week I have a "live session" with my therapist where we can either talk on the phone or video chat. Since I like not having to talk to someone face-to-face, I opt for the phone call. It's very discreet, the therapist calls you through BetterHelp, so they never see your actual phone number. During the live session, my therapist asks questions about messages I've sent her over the week and digs a little deeper into why I act the way I do in various situations. It is still a little uncomfortable for me to talk to someone about my issues, even over the phone, but it is helpful to get immediate feedback on my thoughts and nice to receive validation. I'm beginning to open up to my therapist more and rely on these live sessions.

The first therapist I was matched with was very obviously not going to help me, so I opted to switch therapists before canceling my subscription. Yes, you have to pay for the service up front and there's no trial period, but that makes sense because when do you get to try out a therapist for free anyways? It was very easy to switch therapists. They gave me a list of potential matches and I chose the one that I felt would be able to handle my situation best. I'm very glad I did choose her because she has been very supportive, understanding, and creative in her suggestions on how I can deal with things.

I think BetterHelp is very effective for me and is starting to get me comfortable with the idea of seeing a therapist in-person. My friend who likes the personal nature of therapy doesn't think she'd like it, but for those people, there's always video chat live sessions. I think having easy access to tell your therapist how you feel at any given moment throughout the day is extremely helpful and I appreciate it a lot. I think BetterHelp works for me at this stage in my life and can work for most people if they give it a chance.