I’ll probably get downvoted in this crowd by saying this, but I attribute my soft skills and self-awareness (which aren’t directly linked, but I would argue tha

I’ll probably get downvoted in this crowd by saying this, but I attribute my soft skills and self-awareness (which aren’t directly linked, but I would argue that if you have good awareness of how you are perceived and an honest assessment of strength/weaknesses, that has a direct line to social and emotional intelligence) to psychotherapy. (I’m also of the opinion that regardless of mental health status, every person can benefit from a good therapist. Note, I said good. A bad therapist can be worse than no therapy.) A lot of soft skills really do come down to introspection — and while it’s certainly possible to get those insights outside of a psychologist or psychiatrists office (my psychiatrist also does psychotherapy, but it’s more common for the disciplines to be separate), having a third-party pose questions and stimulate discussions is something difficult to replicate by self-study alone.