What is the Purpose of Therapy and Do You Need It?

The previous post, identified 13 warning signs of harmful therapy designed to help you know when a therapist is displaying harmful behavior in your counseling sessions. I also discussed what makes a therapist a good therapist and how to define a healthy counseling relationship. In today’s post, we will dive deeper into the purpose of therapy and help you determine if it's time for you to begin therapy.

Decades ago, the reason I pursued my purpose as a therapist is because of my own experience of lasting transformation through therapy. People helped me face my pain in a safe and compassionate environment. Facing the deepest truths of my life during that season of therapy set me free and brought tremendous healing. Because of painful childhood moments and the sudden loss of a close family member, I needed someone to sit with me while I sat with myself; I was used to enduring and carrying my pain alone.

Healing Happens in Relationship

Therapy is a relationship, not a formula or a technique. How can it be a technique when we’re dealing with the heart and soul of another person? When I counsel my clients, we do not dialogue about their circumstances. I access their deep, innermost emotions and desires. As a therapist, I do not relate to my clients’ symptoms or their diagnoses. There is a person beneath those issues with a story of personal pain.

In therapy you discover that healing happens in relationship. The wounds that occurred in relationship must be healed in relationship.

Therapy is not merely a conversation; it is a relationship between two people. Therapy is not something that happens to us, it is something that happens through us. Genuine transformation and healing happen when we do the courageous work. There is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to healing wounds in our soul and abiding in our heart’s desires. There are no shortcuts, 5-step solutions, or tool kits.

The healing process in therapy is about identifying the lies we tell ourselves, letting go of our defenses and excuses, and creating authentic relationships with others and ourselves. The work is hard, but it’s the right kind of hard. We do not know ourselves by ourselves. Having a safe and trustworthy person such as a therapist, in a one-on-one setting who partners with you in your struggles is the way clarity, healing, and breakthrough manifest. The therapeutic relationship is about co-creating deep experiences and lasting change.

Finding Clarity in a Noisy World

We live in a culture saturated with information and advice, yet many of us feel increasingly disconnected from ourselves.

Even well-intentioned voices—friends, family, mentors, social media, podcasts, books, and sermons—can quietly leave you feeling confused, overwhelmed, or further disconnected from yourself.

While education and insight can be helpful, they rarely resolve the deeper patterns shaping your thoughts, relationships, and inner life.

Meaningful and lasting change happens through a thoughtful therapeutic process that is personal, confidential, and attuned to your specific story.

Therapy offers a space to slow down, reflect honestly, and work with a licensed professional who is focused entirely on you—not a formula, and not a one-size-fits-all approach.

It is a space designed for depth, clarity, and care—held through attunement and connection.

Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, trauma, or other personal issues, therapy creates a safe, collaborative space where clients can uncover hidden processes that cause problems, explore and face difficult emotions, build emotional capacity and resilience, discover new coping strategies, and face reality in a healthy way.

Whether a client is navigating personal problems on their own or facing troubling relationship dynamics together, therapy is designed around individual goals and needs.

Therapy creates the conditions for truth to surface by helping you slow down, feel more, and face what’s been avoided.

Truth Leads to Freedom

My clients experience issues such as anxiety, depression, chronic stress, insecurity, and relationship difficulties. Beneath their suffering are the lies they are believing and the emotions they are avoiding. A therapist helps us to see those lies that are invisible to us and the unnecessary suffering they inflict.

Many of our problems are rooted in the ways we have unconsciously learned to avoid the truth: the truth of who we are, who others are, and who God is. Avoiding truth will never bring freedom; it will only bring suffering.

What is the purpose of therapy? Truth. And if it does not lead to freedom, it’s not truth.

How do I know? Jesus said so: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32).

We learn the truth in therapy. Before the truth can set us free, we must identify what lies are holding us captive. Most often it’s the lies we tell ourselves, the lies of others, and the lies of the enemy. A therapist helps you experience truth by facing the reality of your difficult situations and painful relationships. Such as the loss of a loved one, divorce, heartbreak, rejection, or the end of a career.

Each one of us tells ourselves lies to avoid pain or because we are afraid: it’s part of what makes us human. Perhaps we tell ourselves a lie such as “I should just try harder, have more faith” rather than facing a marriage that is falling apart. Or, “I’m not that busy” rather than addressing chronic body pain, sleep issues, fatigue, and not prioritizing the relationships of those within the four walls of your home.

In therapy, we explore the lies that hold us captive so we can embrace the truth that sets us free.

This is why seeking therapy is important because we need someone outside of ourselves to help us face the pain we avoid, the fear that keeps us stuck, and the lies we believe. Our pain contains truth. As a therapist, I am committed to helping my clients face the deepest emotional, relational, mental, and spiritual truths of their lives so they can be healed and live free.

The photo accompanying this article was sourced from Shutterstock and is in the public domain.