Who Benefits From Psychotherapy?

scorpio pillowSome people benefit from therapy while others don’t fare as well. Some start therapy and never finish. Others receive poor care and there are other scenarios I can think of.

If you Jupiter tied to the eighth house in any way you are likely to get enormous benefit (Jupiter) from therapy (Scorpio / eighth).

I have Jupiter mashed with the 8th house. The money I spent on therapy, 25 years ago was money well spent!

My friend Ben (Jupiter in the eighth), had just four sessions with a psychiatrist at a low point in his life. Those four sessions saved and changed his life completely.

What are your experiences with psychotherapy? What’s your 8th house look like?

77 thoughts on “Who Benefits From Psychotherapy?”

  1. Saturn in the 8th house (in Leo), Jupiter in the 7th (in Gemini), Pluto in the 10th (in Libra).

    I never felt comfortable with opening up to psychologists or psychiatrists, period, I think too many of them were educated in the wrong way. This isn’t to say that they haven’t been helpful to other people, but I really don’t like being a patient, at least in that matter.

    Astrology has been much more illuminating to me than any psychology book, and I feel more comfortable talking about myself in these terms than dealing with someone someone in the psych field who might have a condescending view of their patients.

  2. I have my Sun & Jupiter both in the 8th house. (both are in Gemini by the way). Jupiter makes a trine to my Ascendant, which is Scorpio. Jupiter makes a semi-sextile to my Neptune which is in the first house in Scorpio. Ditto for my sun.
    I’ve been in therapy only once, when I was 29. I only did it for a year (because that was all I could afford) but it was tremendously helpful. By far, the best money I have ever spent. At the time I was in therapy, therapy helped me to see that I had some pretty negative friendships in my life which all took me for granted in some way. Therapy helped me make the necessary changes in my life and eliminate those friendships. It also gave me a good shot of self-esteem and helped me to learn to trust my intuition. I really feel therapy saved my life.

    Interestingly enough, about a year later, I recommended my cousin go to the same therapist and he did. He didn’t get much out of it though. His 8th house is empty.

    Oh, and I’ve decided to go back to school, to become a psychologist. Psychology has been an interest of mine for as long as I can remember.

  3. I have Jupiter conjunct moon and vertex in my 8th house cancer…. Curently I am going through a very tough time, I would say my friends are my therapy, but understand that I shouldn’t rely on them in such a manner. So therapy would be great for me, esp. being an Aries, having someones full attention on just helping me sounds like a lot of ego grooming! I would def. benefit from going!

  4. I spent about a year ripping open ancient wounds so they could heal properly, and learning how to work with that scar tissue.

    I worked hard, got the point, and got on with my life, happily. I’m convinced the second and third weeks I was there saved my life, quite literally.

    8th house Jupiter in Capricorn – hard work for ongoing, significant benefit? I’m in.

  5. Mixed reviews. Back when I went on in, it was the thing to keep ripping the wounds, and to turn you loose w/raw flesh still dripping blood. Not much focus on healing or dealing w/scar tissue. On the other hand, there can be wonderful gains. More about getting real and less about somebody’s blasted dogma. At one point, I thought: The next time I tell my story, somebody’s going to have to pay ME. That was a significant win, right there. But it was the back-door method.

    Today… If I know I need a differerent perspective (and I do) I’ll trust my gut, and maybe I’ll go there. Can pay off, big time. P.s. I put a consult w/Elsa in this category, too. A wise astrologer, a wise psychotherapist; Either way it’s where you get your Saturn on, among other things!

  6. My mom went for OCD. The psychotherapist kept looking at his watch. I’m pretty sure the psychotherapist gets the mo$t out of it. Then again, I’d think the psychotherapist suicide rate might be higher than average.

  7. I had 6 years of psychotherapy. It was the best gift I ever gave myself. I have the moon in the 8 th house. I think my Venus in the 12 th and Pluto conjunct north node in the 7 th are contributors to my deep need for self awareness. Self awareness is my greatest happiness.
    Why is long term therapy good ? Bc you are integrating a neutral support figure into your psyche. If you had less than wonderful parents this is an incredible process . So many of us look to partners to fill the painful holes in our childhood. Psychotherapy allows you to claim your own responsibility for your issues . After sitting week after week telling my story for 6 years I began to fully understand my own responsibility for my own experience in the world . The idea that a few sessions with a therapist can change you dramatically is not realistic . You might get a few ideas to work on your life . Like diet and exercise good mental health is about building healthy patterns over a period of time. If you keep repeating the same patterns it’s you not the other person. It takes enormous self esteem to walk into that office week after week and tell your miserable, pitiful story over and over until you finally get it that nobody is doing this to you. My end result is that I feel safer being who I really am in the world . I have fuller access to my creativity and an ability to speak my thoughts as they occur in a non threatening manner.
    I just wanted to share in case someone might need support to take the step. Self awareness through psychotherapy is a beautiful, gentle , path of reclaiming yourself. There is still a lot of negativity around getting help and there shouldn’t be. Getting help should be considered an act of courage and self love.
    When you say my therapist didn’t do anything to help me , you must realize their main job is be a supportive listening ear reflecting what you say so you can see yourself better. Seems simple but it is very powerful. The hard part is committing to yourself week after week when you really don’t want to be honest about your responsibility.
    Everyone is flawed. Recognizing your flaws helps you become the fantastically wonderful person that you are.

    1. I love your response, and agree. I can’t articulate it as well but have benefited enormously from long-term psychotherapy – all those dumb single or short-term sessions would do nothing for me – they can’t break the ingrained habits of a lifetime. I have Pluto in 8th which is ruled by Scorpio Sun (conjunct Jupiter in Scorpio). I have been limited only by my lack of courage in revealing my deepest vulnerabilities even to someone who is there to help me.

  8. I have jupiter in aries in the sixth house sextiling mars in gemini (dispositor of my jupiter) in the eighth house. I benefited greatly from long-term therapy with the right therapist for me (I had one before her who just didn’t work for me.)

    Choosing a therapist ideally is a choice (not always possible when referred to one in a service.) If we like them a lot (even idealise – neptune – them), that is not helpful as we might not share our shameful (or falsely shameful) or difficult bits.

    If we don’t like them much though we will not trust them enough to open up to do significant work. The key is to like them enough yet not massively so we can open up gradually.

    Whenever we meet someone at first, though, we are projecting a lot onto them from our past (transference) so ideally the result of this projection is liking them enough.

    I have moon mars in the eighth, gemini on the cusp of the eighth, mercury aspecting eighth house planets, and I ended up training as a psychotherapist. I can work with deep stuff. HOWEVER I find opening up bloody bloody hard (scorpio rising and moon trine pluto on top of that) despite knowing it will help me. I might find easy to share X, Y, Z emotions yet sharing P, U, Y emotions – it’s like extracting teeth and my gut reaction is defensiveness which I recognise and then continue sharing.

    What my experience with the long-term therapy taught me is that if I’m trying to defend myself, something raw and core has been triggered.

    As I believe in what I do and therapy helped me a lot while I was training (compulsive to do tons of therapy while one trains as a psychotherapist – a very good thing), if I need some extra help when I am struggling during a phase (saturn moon transits, for example), I go and see one who lives far from where I live (plutonic privacy!) so I can open up.

    Moon in gemini does benefit from talking about feelings yet it can rationalise away feelings too. Ah!

    I feel so angered and disappointed when I hear about bad therapy experiences or unethical therapists yet it can happen as there are different people in all places, some unethical, some unaware of their energies, some codependent on their work, and some simply don’t resonate with the client, etc.

    The one I had before the effective therapist was not a bad person yet she was not appropriate in some key areas so I stopped the therapy a month or two after I realised she wasn’t for me (pisces sun; now I leave bad situations way earlier.)

  9. I have Jupiter sextile the 8th. When I went, the therapist wasn’t able to discern fantasy/paranoia from reality. I would need a smart and grounded therapist. I also tend to distrust therapists and feel extremely uncomfortable with them because they speak softly, and it feels like they treat me as if I am fragile. I prefer people who talk normally. I tend to do better with unconventional or spiritual methods like Tarot, astrology, or asking a Priest. I wonder if this is because Uranus is in the 12th and ties to the 8th, too. There is always a degree of me not saying something, so I rely on divine guidance that comes out through these methods.

  10. Avatar
    ScottishFoldSoul

    Psychotherapy can diagnose. It can’t treat. In my opinion. Matter-of-fact logical advice from non-smug non-superior people from all walks of life has helped me far more and much of it has come from Scorpios.

  11. I have an 8H Libra Sun, and Jupiter/Neptune exact conjunction in my Scorpio-ruled 9H. I have benefited from traditional counseling and metaphysical studies.

  12. 8th House Jupiter and Mars. I’ve never gone to therapy of my own free will, I was sent a lot by my mom when I was a teenager and the experience pushed me to be more secretive and private.

    Talking with people from my grandparents generation about their lives and trials has helped me the most.

  13. Avatar
    ScottishFoldSoul

    I found psychotherapy totally useless. EMDR therapy on the other hand, I can’t say enough good things about.

  14. My husband is a double Scorpio. He has benefited a ton from his therapy. the last couple of years. You have no idea how it has improved our relationship. I think of you go in thinking you know more than the therapist, you aren’t going to benefit much.

  15. My husband is a double Scorpio. He has benefited a ton from his therapy the last couple of years. You have no idea how it has improved our relationship. I think if you go in thinking you know more than the therapist, you aren’t going to benefit much.

  16. Avatar
    ScottishFoldSoul

    Some therapists are incredibly knowledgeable and insightful, others not so much. Couldn’t have more respect for mine, he knows a hell of a lot more than I do, when he talks I listen. EMDR rewires the brain, it goes way beyond talk therapy.

  17. Jupiter conjunct Pluto in the 8th.
    Personally I’ve talked about my life, now I’m into Behavioral Therapy. The more I talk about it- the more I talk about it. Just tell me how I can break the pattern and get on with my life. ?

  18. In my case it was a psychiatrist who saved my life. I did know any type of psychotherapy would benefit me so I always tried to get help from there. My Jupiter is in Scorpio and is the ruler of my 8th.

  19. This explains tons to me. I’ve never understood why I find growth so easy and met hardly anyone else who is capable of it.

    I have Jupiter at end of Scorpio conjunct Neptune in Sag on the cusp of my 8H. Obviously had a decade of Pluto transiting the Sag 8H. I’m sure have Pluto on the cusp of 6H has also helped with integration of the self.

  20. Avatar
    James Slattery

    With Jupiter retro at the very end of the 8th house (barely) in Scorpio I have always read a lot on psychology and done exhaustive self analysis. I am more comfortable exploring different perspectives than one school of thought through a therapist. I have received brief spiritual counselling (successfully) through the Catholic church I was brought up in. Maybe I like the indirect approach with Neptune at the start of my 8th in Scorpio also.

  21. 8th is Leo w/pluto & Saturn; Jupiter in Scorpio 11th. I know I need to see someone now but been putting it off. personal experience at 27 was helpful another at mid 40s became all about shrink so I left. The real curiosity was when I was 7-14, my Mom saw a psychiatrist who gave her shock therapy. I heard in mid 40s that he was a raging alcoholic who had serious issues with his grown daughter). My Dad told me before he passed, that he had tried to shield it all from me. Needless to say I have many sadnesses/anger about my mom.

  22. Avatar
    circle.dot.oceans

    ScottishFoldSoul, I’ve read about EMDR, but never heard about it from anyone else! Kind of surprised how effective people report it is, but I’m intrigued. 🙂

    As for my updated therapy experience, (Jupiter in 8th/9th cusp) reading the above comment is like a time warp! I’m still going to say therapy does help but it depends on your relationship with the therapist… Weird thing is I’m back in therapy (2nd time around). It’s needed, but it isn’t as effective. Slogging through a Pluto transit to my moon. It hurts and it hasn’t stopped hurting yet. Especially when it comes to work, career and my dad’s skewed imaginings. I still feel alone many times. But I am surviving.

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