What kind of therapy looks like this?

Cognitive behavioral therapy. It can be done 1-one-1 with a therapist (more expensive) or in a group setting (cheaper; some are free). I would avoid if I could going into a therapy session with the notion I will be challenging everything said; that would be unproductive and most therapists wouldn't want to work with you in that circumstance. Congratulations on your decision to seek therapy and best of look. You didn't ask,but avoid at all costs traditional or Jungian psychotherapy, usually conducted by a psychiatrist.

If they immediately prescribe you meds, something is up. Don't go that route.
Find one that would rather help to guide you through self realization. This doesn't mean that you'll be trying to 'fix' the past, but rather updating it to your perspective of the now and dealing with how you think/feel on it.
Most times people who are dealing with issues, especially ones from childhood, tend to still see them subconsciously as that child. You're no longer at that 'level'. This is one thing to correct and update so you can deal with it.
If it's trauma that's happened as an adult it still uses pretty much the same processes. Sometimes you've just got to bite the bullet and head right on into it, journey there, understand what you can and get it into perspective.
Good luck on your travels with that. It's a tough road, I know.

I would suggest humanist therapy, maybe because I have a thing for it, but I also have arguments why it would fit you (I'm specifically talking about Rogerian therapies here).

In Rogerian therapy, you will not receive any advice. In most therapies I've heard of (Rogerian and otherwise) you don't have to be receptive to what the therapist says as much as to yourself. In Rogerian therapy, I feel that it will work for you not to be given advice or analyzed in any way. They aren't supposed to judge you, they will only ask questions and have conversation and techniques meant to help YOU sort out your issues. If you want to focus on certain things in therapy, I suggest you say so from the start - all the better for the therapist because s/he won't have to spend much time "discovering" issues.
On the other hand, who you are now is mostly a result of the past. Sometimes, if you want to understand and sort out a present issue, you will have to dig through the past as well. However, a good therapist will know when to slightly push your boundaries and when you really need to wait until you're ready. Rogerian therapy focuses on the individual in his/her entirety, rather than only parts of the psyche, and I find it to be the most free, client-accommodating therapy; however, I think the *best* thing to do is research types of therapy yourself. I keep talking about something I believe in, but perhaps you'd prefer positive psychology or hypnosis or whatever. You should learn a bit about more types of therapy and then see for yourself which fits you best.
I can tell you, however, you'll probably not like psychoanalysis based on what you've said here. CBT might be useful for solving certain issues as you want to, but I find it a little more authoritative/demanding at times. Also, I think you should consider how long you are willing to spend in therapy.

I'm sorry to disappoint, though, but no matter which form of therapy you will choose, you might have to change therapists a few times, because how good a therapist is depends on them, not on the techniques the apply. You could ask people you may know who have gone to therapy or you could look up therapists (I think the Psychology Today site had some suggestions, but I'm not sure anymore) and sort them based on your criteria. After you've read a bit about more forms of therapy, you can google "therapist search "your area"" and see what comes up.

I wish you luck! I'm only a second year psychology student so my knowledge is limited still, but seeing a couple of the answers above I think I do know a thing or two - not to boast, I should know much more than I do :p If you have any further questions about this, feel free to send me a PM.

You are the therapist. A "therapist" can basically just guide you and show you the way to heal yourself. Find someone that you can trust and feel comfortable talking to.

Doep100 is exactly right. Find a therapist you are comfortable talking to, and make it clear the points you made above. I used to go to a therapist simply to have someone 'neutral' to talk with who wouldn't blab to other 'friends' etc. I made it clear to him from the beginning that the problems I was dealing with at the time were not because of my 'mommy and daddy not loving me, etc.' Good luck and keep us posted. EP has been great therapy for me recently! *hugs*

This is kind of long, and in no way complete, but it was something I was working on while I was reading your post.

"... They do what their therapists tell them to do, but only so far as it concerns the information they felt comfortable to give in the first place. No mention as to whether or not it was true, or complete, or accurate. Just what was safe to divulge. And do the therapists really give a ****? I doubt it. Many have seen therapists longer than the therapists went to college to learn it in the first place. So as long as therapists keep baiting the hook and implying a weakness, the patients nibble faithfully all the while proving their need of it and writing the check whether they heal or not. And it's made even worse by a patient who is so distrustful of everyone that they simply can't tell the truth for fear of being exposed. So they lie, which is exactly the same as going into a doctor because of chest pain and telling the doctor your toe hurts. Seems to me that if a patient treated their weekly sessions like a mental emergency room, the difference between a broken mind would be no more acceptable than a broken bone when snapped in half by another. Instead, they spend hour after hour ,week after week, having conversations they could have had with people who cared, and instead, simply wrote a check. All the money makes the world go 'round. Even the pretend ones. If your "therapist" is spending week after week letting YOU spill out what you need to say and nodding their head like a cardboard bobble-headed dof, then what is REALLY being payed for is something you were fully capable of in the beginning. But if each session simply sets you up for yet ANOTHER session, then that's not therapy. That's catharsis.
If therapy doesn't work, then they medicate, but only after ensuring that they have dotted the "i"s and crossed the "t"s of their own diagnosis to ensure that they get exactly the drug they want. Not need. A medicated bandaid over the symptom, but not the cause. And again, what doctor would care as long as the symptoms stated by the patient conform to the treatment given and it fits into the insurance plan. It's an emotional buffet people pick at the same as going to the Golden Corral, only instead of deciding what tastes good, they look to what they can take to sweeten the taste of the rest of their lives without choking to death on it.
They cope. They manage. They endure. They tolerate to the ends of the earth and never ONCE does anyone find it within themselves to expect for themself what they assume others should demand from them. As long as they can be seen as going through the motions of adapting, the rest of the world should find more favor for drugging themselves into a stupor than to actually expect they have the right to demand better. No wonder people continue with this. You LOVE IT.
And to be quite honest, I feel they waste their entire lives rationalizing a continued victimization. Like an alcoholic isn't an alcoholic until he admits it, and an ******* is simply an ******* because that's his nature. They can't admit a decade of the past has been wasted already by a bad mistake, so they simply add on one day after another until it's two decades. And then three. Until finally they can admit that they are too old to feel they deserved any better at all and excuse themselves of the desire and simply relegate the rest of their lives like this. The old adage "time will tell" only works for those who sit around watching you waste your time on hope and blind faith long enough for everyone else to make it your problem rather than theirs."

Meditation non religious. The way forward is to be your own therapist, learn to sit and listen to your thoughts without getting hooked into them. Meditation is not about floating around the room crap. Real meditation is learning to find yourself and understand what s going on in your head, and life. I spent on and off two years in therapy, yea sure it works for a lot of people, however you sound a little like I was once and it did nothing for me. Take control of your own life, make waves forwards on your own terms.

I wish you a good journey to come.

Well therapists are there to analyze you and try to help you but if you just do not trust them well there is no point whatsoever to get a therapist. Try writing a journal of all the bad things and then burn or throw them away. Also try grabbing a friend an enjoy a time out. Or you can get a dog or adopt a kid or dog and give them and yourself a purpose in your life.

I don't have any specific suggestions to make with regard to types of therapy, and I'm not an expert, but I would like to add that US psychology is biased with regard to "looking-in-the-past" type therapies - there is no trying to change the past at all, that's impossible, but some events can be traumatic, and need to be revisited and looked at again using a new perspective - sometimes it's the only way to find relief or closure.

I'm not talking about classic psychoanalysis here, that can be inadequate and a bit too overkill on the analyzing the past; there are other options to consider that aren't overkill on either the past or the NOW.

And with regard to what Lucyintheskywithdiamonds said... I disagree, and I think you're EXTREMELY right to question what the therapist says, way too many therapists (CBT especially) are complacent enough to barely even attempt to get to know you before telling you what to do. Which can lead to a higher chance of bias on their part, since the common denominator (you) plays a much smaller role.

Obviously, if there's anything you and the therapist disagree upon, you should be able to discuss it and reach a consensus, and if things don't work out, the therapist should be professional and reasonable enough to admit that his/her type of therapy isn't for you, and then maybe refer you to someone else.

It doesn't (at all) have to be, either he orders you around, or you overload the "poor" therapist with your "demands". And with what Lucy said about that being unproductive, I think it's a lot more unproductive for the therapist to have you (grudgingly) do things that you're uncomfortable with doing, or that you disagree with completely, without caring about your opinion, and for you to get worse. And on top of that, are you paying the therapist a small fortune, or is it the other way around?

Read the book "The Happiness Trap" - Russ Harris.

It's all you need.

How to stop struggling & start living.