Have you ever recommended therapy to someone close to you?

Curious if anyone has suggested to a loved one that they attend therapy, but separate from you? I'm not really thinking about couples therapy or having someone come to your sessions.

I'm more so thinking of my mother, while she initially said "maybe I should try therapy" kinda passively after venting about my grandmother I added that maybe it'd help her help me by understanding the process. I'm honestly not sure I believe that, and kinda don't have a lot of hope for myself. But my mother is married and dependent on my stepfather who has had extremely violent periods split up by years of being a saint and following christ since my childhood... so I do think it could benefit her in that manner. And not being in the best place myself, feel like I have to leave her with a way to know how to reach out for help if something happens to me.

Has anyone ever hinted that a friend, spouse, parent, could maybe help you if they sought therapy? I feel like many people who are close to someone suffering from mental illness often feel helpless and get frustrated. But I'm wondering if this has ever backfired too.

No I never have and doubt I ever would.

I have suggested therapy to H. He just started therapy right before ex-T abandoned me. When she abandoned me, he quit. With my sister, I did encourage her going to therapy after it was court ordered. I did, however, suggest a crisis house to her when she was having a breakdown, and she went. It was a good experience for her. I've also suggested therapy to my mom, but she keeps coming up with excuses: money, insurance, time, etc. None of which are actual valid excuses so I just stopped.

Has your experiences with the mental health system been to where you'd feel more like you'd warn them against therapy to protect them?

I struggle with this, as I've haven't experienced an unethical therapist, but do believe and read here that even if one that isn't a good fit can be harmful.

Yes, I've outright suggested to my sister and abusive sibling repeatedly over the years that they ought to consider therapy. At first, I even offered to pay for my abusive sibling, even though I was having flashbacks of his physical and sexual abuse of me.

These days whenever they rant to me or treat me like an unpaid therapist, I nip it in the bud and suggest they go to therapy. They just come up with excuses which boil down to "It's not a priority."

I did to a friend. She felt offended first but actually, they are now in therapy.

I feel like if I have a vested interest in a relationship-like say my marriage- and I would benefit then maybe I would share how I would benefit. I am not big into recommending anything about mental health treatments because it feels a little like an Amazon review you know what I mean?
Edit for a joke:
I was jerk before therapy- I definitely recommend it!

I have never recommended people attend in order to help me.

I have, however, recommended it to many people: friends, family and coworkers. Sometimes when they are struggling, I will say something like maybe a little bit if counseling will help you/your child. If they are going through something I experienced. I will tell them them I struggled with the same thing and found counseling very beneficial. That way I am not saying hey get counseling.

Working in the mental health field, I work with many therapists and psychiatrists so my friends and family know ai am a supporter of therapy. In the 13 years I have been doing what I do I have met one therapist who I without a doubt I would never want to see. Fortunately, he has never really been a therapist.

Yes. My husband particularly. He ended up working with our therapist for almost as long as I did and had equally good results. Neither of us are in therapy anymore and are doing well.

I've suggested it to my partner and at times he has said that he's considering it. I even got some referrals from my T for him. But it never happened.

I think the idea of going to therapist is really difficult for some people, like they tell themselves "it's not THAT bad" all the time and going to a therapist is admitting that yes, it is THAT bad.

I and my husband suggested bereavement therapy for my brother after our mother died. But he didn’t go. I personally find out that nothing helps with grief but time but my daughter found grief therapy very helpful when her husband died. So I recommend bereavement therapy to people

I don't really consider therapists the mental health system -but I found therapy so completely useless that I would never recommend anyone do it. Also, from my job, I would never ever recommend anyone see a psychiatrist or take the drugs they hand out - if someone chooses to do it, then I wouldn't tell them to stop or say anything really -but I certainly would not recommend it like it was a good thing to do.

My friend lost her husband and of course was grieving they were married 28 years , he was never able to work, he always had very bad lung problems ... about 9-10 months she kept trying to find a new guy she kept thinking that would “ fix her”

I was always willing to listen to her.. but I couldn’t help her and she was on messenger constantly , mad if I didn’t respond right away. It just became to much to me... I told her she needed help , church widows group or most certainly a T.

She did start going to church and the widows group , we don’t talk much anymore, she hooked up with some guy she met online.

I tried really hard to help her but she became an emotional vampire and I had to take a giant step away

Yes, I have. I strongly urged my emotionally abusive, alcoholic husband to go to therapy. This was before I had started therapy myself. He had issues from his childhood and family that I thought he needed to deal with. Some of my motivation was selfish because I was tired of dealing with an angry drunk guy yelling at me all the time. He was already on benzos for his anxiety, so he found a psychiatrist that would continue his med management and offered talk therapy. She also added on 180 mg of Adderall per day, which is a lot. Unfortunately, he lied to her about the alcohol use and I don't really know if he addressed any of his other issues. Under her care, his abuse escalated until he set our house on fire one night. I can guess he wasn't exactly honest with her about how he was treating me either and I know now that sending an abuser to individual therapy can make it worse. Lesson learned I guess. I don't know if I would recommend him going to therapy knowing what I know now. I think if he had done some actual work in therapy, his life might have gotten significantly better and I hope that the state is offering him some therapy now and that he is taking advantage of the opportunity.

Even though I'm certain that the psychiatrist made things worse overall, I don't harbor ill will for the profession as a whole. My therapist is great and if I had a friend or family member who was struggling, I would recommend therapy as a way to get additional support.