About 2 months ago, for the first time in my life, I visited a therapist about helping me to overcome a painful experience from my past that was haunting me for about the past 6 years. I never thought I'd be the type of person to use a therapist, but I just got to the point in my life that holding on to my pain was becoming overwhelming, and I really felt it was holding me back. I also felt like it was manifesting itself in ways that I didn't really understand, and I suspected that my overeating was partially stemming from the pain I was holding in.
I visited the therapist, and brought with me a lengthy written summary of my issues. I knew I didn't want to have some kind of long-term therapy relationship going on, and I thought the most effective way to get the therapist up-to-speed on me was to write everything down. It worked. She quickly understood where I was coming from, and immediately went into how I should overcome the past. I didn't feel immediately like anything had changed, but in the days and weeks ahead, I felt like some of the heavy burden I had been carrying around for so many years was lifted. I'm not sure if I'm completely "healed" but I sure wish I had lifted the burden long ago. The most fascinating thing to me was I'm not sure exactly how I feel better - its not really logical to me. I think just speaking to someone knowledgeable about things that I couldn't speak to anyone else about was useful.
I would encourage any of you out there who are carrying a burden for many years consider speaking to a professional. Even though I'm not the type of guy that would ever think I'd need help from a therapist, I found the experience helpful. Perhaps it was a source of my weight gain that needed to be removed from my life and now I can focus on being more successful at reaching a healthy weight. I'd guess that many people who have weight control issues could benefit from some form of therapy.
Life is too short to carry around unnecessary pain. The future is bright.