There's a lot to say about therapy, but imo it's more systemic in regards to the whole health system (well all systems really), than any criticism I have about the ideas of therapy in general.

There's a lot of different therapeutic treatments for a lot of mental health conditions. Anyone who makes sweeping statements is being overly jaded imo.

I personally have benefited from talk therapy. I think due to my isolation/neglect growing up, it's been helpful for learning to open up in a safe environment. It also was a big stepping stone as someone raised a man who had created distance from themselves emotionally their entire life up to that point.

That being said, I've also had to come to terms with the fact that no amount of talk therapy was going to rewire the parts of my psyche that are fucked due to abuse I had growing up. I've seen that there's different forms of therapy that try to help past traumas, but money is of course tight, and there's no guarantees.

I still thank my therapists for what they tried to help with, and appreciated when they told me straight up "this is out of my wheel house. I think it would serve you better if you found a specialist".