This is a damn good question. I heard that a couple of my favorite rock stars had phone Psychiatrists. Supposedly it raised their level of performance was maximized Some real rock stars. Not a politician or evangelist who get called one. Brad Pitt told GQ that he went to therapy after divorcing Angelina Jolie.
Without hesitation I bought myself a decent shrink, and he made small talk. Before long, I was yapping about myself, my parents, what I thought about people and my 50 minutes was up. Paid. Driving home, I could never figure out what he did to make me feel sharp. After several thousands of dollars in shrink visits I realized he got me to figure things out on my own, asking small questions to get me there.
Later, took a trip to the dollar store to get paper and pens. Julia Cameron wrote a book called “the Artists Way” one of her suggestions is to spend a whole lotta time getting down your thoughts. After testing it out, I discovered journaling random thoughts produced the same feeling I had whenever I was done with a shrink session. Exact? No. You get what you pay for. Think there is something to being able to look back on notes, and see who you are.
Besides the notebook bargain sessions, the difference between a notebook, a psychiatrist, and a psychologist, is that a psychiatrist can write a prescription. The notebook becomes he prescription, and a Psychologist is somewhere in between.