We all have big emotions from time to time. It’s part of what makes us human. Chatting about these feelings with friends, family members, and teachers can be super helpful. But sometimes you need someone who’s specifically trained to help people work through their problems—in other words, you need a therapist.
You might think that therapy is just for adults. Or you might think you need to be dealing with a major trauma or serious mental illness to benefit from therapy. But in fact, therapy can help anyone who wants to understand themselves and their feelings better. That includes teens: According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 28 percent of teens in the U.S. have received some kind of mental health treatment, like therapy.
Dr. Gauri Khurana is a psychiatrist who specializes in teens. She explains, “You’re not crazy if you go to therapy. There’s nothing wrong with you. I actually think that some of the most put-together people are the ones who go to therapy and examine how their actions affect themselves and others.”
We asked some experts for the answers to common questions about therapy, including how to get started if you’d like to give it a try.