Is Therapy the Answer?

Bad marriage, trouble teens, abusive relationship..off to therapy. We tend to send our troubles off to a therapist as if it is the magic solution that will make all of our worries disappear. What can therapy actually do for us however? Watching Dr. Phil yesterday, there was a father and daughter who were estranged because the father had given money to his son and had not given any money to his daughter.  The daughter was angry at her Dad for using up what she considered to be her "inheritance" on her brother. Dr. Phil as usual kept trying to get her to tell him the real reason she was angry with Dad since she continually insisted it wasn't about the money.
Ironically an attorney was called in to explain that Dad's money was Dad's money and he was free to do with it what he wanted. an "inheritance" does not become an inheritance until after ones death. Bascially this lawyer was telling the daughter she had no rights to Dad's cash while he was alive and couldn't tell him how to spend it.
Did Dr. Phil need to get involved in that arguement? Was therapy the answer here? NO.  This young woman had an entitlement mentality which in this climate is not unusual and caused her to completely disown her own  father because of rights she perceived she had which were being violated.
This woman didn't need therapy, she need a smack! The lawyer verbally did just that as Dr. Phil stood there applauding.

Sometimes therapy alone is not the answer, but a good dose of reality can be. The troubled teen who goes to jail for a day to see what their life will be like if they don't straighten up. Maybe the couple in the bad marriage simple need a break from one another for a while to learn to appreciate what they have. While I am not knocking the use of therapy in these matter, sometimes another approach is not the worst thing. We set ourselves up for failure if we believe all of our worries can be cured with 40 minute sessions once a week. Sometimes we need to look at other avenues in order to improve our lives.