I have spent many many years, off and on, in therapy/counseling. I have met with pastors, lay counselors, MSW, (master\'s in social work) psychologists, and a psychiatrist. Believe me, the amount of school and the letters after the name are beneficial, but don\'t necessarily mean anything as far as effectiveness goes. Sometimes the textbook just gets in the way. But not all the time. The deepest work I did was with a lay counselor who learned for herself how to deal with the same kind of problems I had. Unfortunately, she stopped counseling, as her life situation changed.
Here are a few things I have learned along the way:
1) Don\'t go to therapy like you would an MD - expecting a diagnosis and a treatment to take, and you will be all better. Therapy and counseling are meant to give you tools and strategies to help you find what it is you are doing or not doing that is not working effectively in your relationships. And giving you the right tool for the right job - showing you how to think and act differently so instead of getting angrier and angrier, for instance, and finally exploding, how to stay rational and calm and solve problems without creating another world war. You still have to apply what you learn, and that is most of the work. In therapy, the money you pay is for buying the tools, not the service of making you better.
2)It is commonly thought that if it takes more than a few tharapy sessions, then you either are not seeing a good therapist or you don\'t really have a problem to begin with. Or, your problem is unsolvable. This is simply not true. This is where therapy IS similar to seeing an MD - many mental health problems, like many physical problems, are acute and just need one or two visits and the problem is cured. Others take several visits, and some are chronic problems that never go away and need ongoing treatments. Chronic mental health issues are very difficult to deal with, not only accepting for yourself their course and outcome, but also convincing others - including other healthcare professionals, that your problem is \"that bad\" and you need \"that much\" help. After all, you are right in front of them, and clearly rational. At the time.
3)As with our physical well being, we must be the one ultimately in charge of and responsible for our psychological well being. Sometimes that is not possible, but to the extent we are able, if we want to preserve our independence and freedom as much as possible, we need to do what we can for ourselves to maintain that status.
After many years with different counselors, I was finally peiced together what therapy is all about - the idea of \"reparenting\" someone who got lost along the way. There are two basic methods for acheiving this:
The behavioral (classical conditioning) method, which means identifying unhealthy and/or unproductive behaviors, and changing them. This in theory changes whatever internal conflict caused the unhealthy behavior to begin with. This type of therapy tends to work well with extroverted, socially connected, objective thinkers.
The other type of therapy is the analytical (Freudian)method, which means identifying internal conflicts and resolving them. This in theory changes whatever unhealthy and/or unproductive behavior was being evidenced by the internal conflict to begin with. This type of therapy tends to work well with introverted, socially isolated, subjective thinkers.
There are other types of therapy, but they generally fall under one of the two methods above. Behavioral therapy works from the outside in, and analytical therapy works from the inside out. Either method can be effective, it just depends on what works for the individual involved.

I have used counseling on an as needed basis, for those times when life's challenges were too much. I personally believe that there needs to be a "connection" with the therapist. If there isn't, after a few treament, find another one. Beyond that, I think this venue gives you someone who has no emotional attachement to the situation. Someone who can give you "food for thought", or, maybe break things down for you. Does
"psychotherapy" work? Psychotherapy never works - they don't have the answers/solutions, you do. They just help you bring out the answers.