If you’ve ever, even briefly, been in therapy, you will recognise the sensation of looking at your therapist’s unreadable expression and knowing nods, and wondering: What are you thinking?

“There’s a reason why therapists are supposed to be a blank canvas. For their clients and patients, they’re someone to whom you can express your feelings freely and without concern about how what you’re saying may relate to a therapist’s own life. That’s what makes the relationship work,” writes Holly Bullock in this week’s Stylist+ cover story.

“Therapy is an incredibly helpful tool that has the power to transform the mental health of those who can access it for the better, so this shouldn’t scare you off it,” she continues. “But if we don’t acknowledge that therapists are human beings with complicated thoughts and feelings about their clients (in the same way that clients have these thoughts and feelings about them), we’re in danger of viewing them unrealistically.”

And so, in an effort to help us all get the most out of therapy, we asked therapists to share everything they wish they could tell their clients – from the ways you should challenge your therapist to the questions you really don’t need to ask them, it’s a thoroughly enlightening read.

Hannah Keegan
Features Director, Stylist 

“The idea of having a ‘nemesis’ might sound like something from a romantasy novel or a Jilly Cooper adaptation, but ask around, and you’ll probably find that many of the women in your life have, at some point, experienced the strangely compelling concept of the ‘work nemesis’,” writes Jessica Burrell. 

“It might sound like a nightmarish scenario at first, especially if you’re envisaging schoolgirl antics transplanted to a world of email chains, micromanaging and pass-agg comments. But, in reality, a little competitiveness at work can go a long way, helping to push you further towards your career goals.” Here, she explains exactly how to make the tricky dynamic work for you.