I have had both great therapists and useless ones. I'd go so far as to even say I've had a couple of harmful ones. Right now, I have an excellent therapist, and I am already sad that our relationship will end soon. Because she's just that good!

I'm crazy about it.

The biggest predictor of the effectiveness of psychotherapy is the fit between the therapist and the client. If the fit is there and you trust them they can teach you tools to use in day to day life and help you accept the past, if it isn't it's a waste of time.
That said if you had a physical injury that wasn't healing well you would have no hesitation about going to a physiotherapist, so where is the difference.

Yes , maybe not everyone , and a lot, of alternative therapies help, in the end you need to find the way to manage yourself ,but its a good learning process whatever course you take even if you decide in the end that it isn't for you its good learning.

It only works if you learn to trust a stranger. Their good intentions to heal your mind is great. Sometimes they will write a report on you to be published. Take it as a compliment...and that you were a worthwhile case. Their hard work, when documented and shared to the medical community, helps everyone.

Doubtful. The interest in psychotherapy is to keep you coming back so the therapist keeps getting paid

It does in cases where some underlying physiology is not the root cause of the problem. Talking things through with a qualified therapist helps to sort out the issues and may result in positive growth and finding a path to recovery. When the cause is organic, psychotherapy may help stabilize things while the drugs are kicking in and afterwards to ensure that the drug therapy is working and properly followed.

I would say no. A few friends who have tried it said they only stopped smoking for few days

I've moved around a lot and have seen multiple therapists. I think there are good and bad ones--the good ones help and the bad ones at best don't do anything for their patients. The one I have now is fantastic. She's older than I am (I'm 55) and I keep worrying that she is going to retire soon. I had one when I was younger who told me I needed to "find Jesus" and I wouldn't be depressed any more.

It helped me a great deal when I was younger, but the lady was awesome, unfortunately she left that practice but I carry the lessons she taught me to this day, her replacements paled in comparison but that could be explained that the majority of the work was done at the time and I was still mourning losing her. I've such fond memories of the first.

It also depends on the therapist. One size doesn't fit all.
I'd like to go again, but finding that one that clicks and can truly help work on issues is another matter altogether. Basically would love to have more self awareness.
My kid has her own and loves her. She needs another perspective other than mine and thankful we can do it.

I look at it this way; it can put the fast forward button on processing when the fit is a match.
My pov is everyone has something they can work on. Have we not all run into someone who desperately needs to go but never does... ugh

Nowhere near as much as family, friends and self help does. Plus, that kind of help, doesn't cost you as much as one sent.

Released a few days ago by SciShow Psych. (The SciShow Psych YouTube channel talks/reports about topics on the psychology - always based on current science - like all the SciShow channels.)

This video talks about "meta-analysis" (the study of studies) and an "umbrella review" (the study of the analyses) on the effectiveness of psychotherapy. It doesn't really give a direct "yes" or "no" - because people (the subject, the researchers, the psychotherapists) are complicated. But it's a good video non-the-less.

It concludes with: "...just because we don't have psychotherapy's effectiveness perfectly figured out, doesn't mean it isn't worth while. It just means that we have a lot more learning to do..."

It surely helped me! My mother was a sociapath and my sister is schizophrenic, and well before I knew the words for these mental disorders, I somehow knew that I would really have to work hard at revamping my exposure to so much mental illness! Yes, psychotherapy help save my life and my sanity, because in my younger years, medications were limited and the few that were available had unpleasant side effects! In my case it took many years...one reason being I had no support! No friends, a husband that was alcoholic and 5 children to raise! I had therapist tell me, that they had never had a patient that worked harder than I did! I wanted a life that mattered! Yes, it worked...

I'm not entirely sure that my experience with therapy was helpful to me. I was depressed after my wife split up with me -- but you're supposed to be depressed when that happens. Did getting professional help assist me in coming out of that depression faster or more completely than I would have otherwise? It kind of doesn't feel like it: I knew all along I'd get better eventually even during dark times. I wouldn't say I'm depressed now, although it still hurts from time to time.

I don't really have, nor do I at all desire, any control group experiences to compare this to. So I can't know if the therapy helped or didn't help. I'm pretty confident it didn't hurt.

I think it can. It depends a lot on the situation, and the therapist. It has helped me tremendously. But I know better than to suggest that my personal experience proves my point.