This post is written in honor of National Psychotherapy Day, “a day when clinicians, clients, and therapy advocates will unite to promote the profession, fight stigma, educate the public, and draw attention to the needs of community mental health.” I hope you’ll join us!

Therapy isn’t only for people with a diagnosis — or in crisis. Therapy is a great way to enhance your happiness (or what psychologists call “well-being”).

As Alison Thayer, LCPC, CEAP, a psychotherapist at Urban Balance, said, “We focus on eating healthy and exercising to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but we often do not apply the same principles to our mind and mental health. Consider therapy sessions to be the equivalent of providing our bodies with a nutritious meal.”

In fact, therapy is nourishing in many different ways. Below, clinicians share some of the well-known, and not-so well-known, benefits of seeking professional help.

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