Summertime for me means being able to spend quality time with my sons. Most of which is me driving them around from beach to beach. The boys always dominate the car’s radio switching from station to station to find a song that they like. To my surprise, my oldest son stopped on a Christian rock station. He exclaimed his love for the rapper NF. He explained to me that this rapper doesn’t swear and raps about real life. Surprisingly, NF was rapping about being in therapy in his song “Time”. My son then found the same song on two different stations right after one another. I was blown away that so many stations were promoting this song about therapy and a struggling relationship. I asked my son more questions about this rapper. Come to find out he has a whole album called “Therapy."
We went to Hersheypark for Labor Day weekend where I saw tons of Hootie and the Blowfish tour shirts while standing in long roller coaster lines. Their tour was called “Group Therapy”. It really made me ponder whether society has been able to break down the stigma of being in therapy. Can we walk through society proudly wearing “I’m In Therapy” t-shirts?
In past days of yore, being in therapy was a deep dark secret or was only spoken about in hushed tones. I know we have progressed from there, but I’m still not sure that there still isn’t judgment going on when someone says “I’ve decided to start therapy” or “I’m going to see my therapist today”. We need to continue to work on eliminating the stigma that surrounds being in therapy. Musicians need to keep singing about it. People need to keep positively talking about being in therapy. From this day forward, let’s make a vow to talk proudly about being in therapy or how therapy has helped a loved one or someone we know. Be a Therapy Warrior and help continue to change the negative view of therapy.