It depends. Talk therapy works for a lot of people, but not all. But, it’s almost always a good starting place. If you feel like you aren’t making any progress with your therapist, you can always tell them that, and they can help you explore other options outside of psychotherapy. They could recommend a psychiatrist who can try medical therapy options with you. From there, if you still feel that you aren’t making progress, your psychiatrist can possibly recommend medical operations such as ECT if you’re still having trouble.

It doesn’t always have to take this path, though. But I can absolutely recommend therapy as a launch pad.

For my own anecdote, I went to a therapist for several months, and after a while I felt like I was reaching a brick wall. And not due to any trouble with the therapist, but because I felt like I had milked therapy for all I could. He was able to refer me to a psychiatrist who then worked with me on finding an appropriate medication and we explored other venues from there. While I basically maxed out the gains I could get from therapy, I was still able to learn a lot of really useful things during that process anyway, which are still helpful to me today. So don’t go into it with the expectation that you’ll find yourself cured, but go into it with an open mind.