For context, I (23M) live in the United States. In Ohio. A bit concerned about privacy because of the whole Nazi problem and the fact that I live in an abusive household.
I’ve been working on myself a lot recently and realized that I can’t do this alone anymore (or rely on Internet strangers to talk about my issues). I feel like I finally have the strength to ask for help in the real world. I’ve just never done this before. What’s it like? Is it warm and fuzzy, or cold and analytical? (Does it feel like someone is providing care and comfort, or is it more like an emotionally detached scientist meticulously studying you and scribbling down notes while mumbling “Hmm, I see, I see” while you yap at them?) Do you start to see results right away, or are things slow at first? How much stuff is recorded in a database that other systems can look up?
There’s plenty of positive advice here, so I’ll write some negative things. If you feel like the therapy is not working for you, as people have pointed out, change therapists. Go through multiple ones, don’t give up!
The reality still is though, that therapy isn’t a magical cure that fixes everything. Depending of your problems, it might not work no matter how many therapists you go through, no matter how many years of therapy you do. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, no - absolutely do try. It also doesn’t mean the problem is you, sometimes things just don’t go how people say they should.
Therapy has not worked for me; it can’t fix my shitty physical health, and it can’t fix how unfit to society I am because of my autism. My friend did ten years of therapy, but still killed themselves. There’s no cure for everything, not everyone gets a happy ending. But maybe you do; you never know unless you try! That trying is a huge step you can be proud of taking, no matter what.