24 Things All Therapists Learn That Everyone Should Actually Know

Your Feelings Are Valid, Even If You Were Told They Aren’t

“Ideally, everyone would have been raised believing that their feelings and emotions are valid, even if others don’t understand them, but that is usually not the case,” Julie Williamson, LPC, NCC, RPT, a therapist and owner of Abundant Life Counseling St. Louis, tells Romper by email.
Knowing that your feelings have merit, even if they’re not shared by those around you or not understood very well, is important. Your therapist knows it and so should you.

Christine B. L. Adams, MD, a psychiatrist and author of the soon-to-be-published Living on Automatic, tells Romper by email that people don’t spend much time thinking about their relationships with the people closest to them. “Instead, we conduct them on autopilot, responding with knee-jerk reactions,” Adams says. Thinking about your relationships allows you to interact with people in a more genuine and authentic way.

Some people seem to think that therapists are somehow doing it all better than everyone else, but Dr. Alisha Powell, PhD, LCSW, a therapist and social worker, tells Romper by email that that’s not exactly true. “Therapists are just as messed up as you,” Powell says. “We don’t have the magic formula and many times we help others because we need to escape the utter chaos of our personal lives.”