I've been thinking lately of trying out therapy. I'm not depressed and I'm not having an existential breakdown, but I want to see what it's all about. It's a weird thing, talking. It's a weirder thing talking to a stranger. To think that it is someone's calling to sit in a comfortable chair and listen while I spit at him all the brain stuff at the very tip of my conscious. But I know people that do it and consistently they are the happiest people I know. Might there be some secret to therapy every once in a while?

So what is there to gain by therapy? I think I mostly am interested just for that, by curiosity. If there is something that this stranger can help me find out about myself I'd like to know. I guess it might be helpful to have someone else analyze and pick apart my brain. It's like a peer editor, someone who can tell me if what I think is coming across in my rough draft really is or not. But there is a stigma attached to therapy, there's no doubt about that. I remember watching a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Larry sits in his therapist's office and discusses his shoes. I can't imagine Larry David talking about anything else to a therapist. What happens if that's all I am comfortable talking about? The trivialities of my every day life? Is there something to learn from that? Or is that a sign I don't belong in therapy?

Is there an ultimate goal for therapy? Is it happiness or personal understanding? Or is it for better self-analyzing? Should I go in with a goal in my mind for what I want out of therapy or should I just let the therapist ease me into whatever path is best? What worries me most about therapy is not knowing whether I am getting anything out of it. How do you gauge the benefit from therapy? I feel if I were to go try this out my hypothetical therapist would receive the most meta-patient he's ever experienced.

Again, I restate, therapy is a weird thing. It's a bit self-centered and unexplainable. But people do it, people who on the outside seem entirely content. But might there be something inside everyone worth talking to a stranger about? Underneath all of our surfaces might there not lie a monster? Is it the job of the therapist to find this monster and expel it? Or at least teach me how to keep it caged inside?

So for those on Pandalous who go to or used to go to a therapist and feel comfortable discussing it, I'd like to know all you care to divulge. What reasons are there for seeking out therapy and even what reasons are there for leaving therapy? Is it a life decision or merely something that I will need sometimes and other times not? And if I do go into therapy, how do I get everything out of it that I can? With what sort of mind should I bring to the session?

thanks in advance