You've got a point, but depression often leads to isolation. One clear benefit to therapy is that – if the therapist is any good – you will get a relatively neu

You've got a point, but depression often leads to isolation. One clear benefit to therapy is that – if the therapist is any good – you will get a relatively neutral, objective opinion reflected back at you. Friends, community and religious or other support systems rarely give sufficiently objective advice or a bird's eye view of the problem. It's not so much about renting a friend as it is to pay an outside professional who can hopefully give you more insight into why things are not going as well as you were hoping for. It is notoriously hard to analyse your own issues, even if you are knowledgeable about psychology or feel you have good self-knowledge. I want to pay for neutral insight from somebody not vested in me personally.