Therapy Is Supposed to Make You Happier

"Therapy generally involves regular speaking sessions with a trained professional dedicated to addressing one's emotional, behavioral, or mental-health challenges and teaching techniques to build coping skills and make positive changes. In lay terms, it aims to help a patient manage whatever is making her miserable, such as depression or anxiety."

"Brooks says therapy is about managing negative emotions, while happiness is about increasing positive emotions. For happiness, he says you should "get out of the house," "mix with people," and "try not to be a jerk." What Brooks doesn't address is why people who want to be happy don't socialize more often and more effectively. These reasons are the real focus of therapy."

"The idea is that the therapist and patient must have mutual goals; they must understand how the therapy will achieve those goals by sharing an understanding of what patterns or tendencies are getting in the way; and they must allow the natural collaborative bonds that develop between people working together to develop by understanding together what is getting in the way of their development."

Therapy involves regular sessions with a trained professional to address emotional, behavioral, or mental-health challenges and to teach coping techniques for managing misery such as depression or anxiety. Therapy often focuses on managing negative emotions, while increasing positive feelings typically requires social engagement and pro-social behavior. Many patients who seek greater happiness face psychological obstacles that reduce socializing and effective interaction. The primary determinant of successful therapy is the working alliance: shared goals, a mutual understanding of problematic patterns, and a collaborative bond. Early sessions frequently shift from describing pain to identifying how symptoms block desired activities and the therapy process itself.

Read at Psychology Today