Service as Therapy: How Helping Others Supports Emotional Healing

Acts of service—volunteering, caregiving, mentoring, or simply showing up for someone else—can be more than kind gestures. They can be deeply therapeutic. While traditional therapy often focuses inward, service allows healing to emerge through outward action, community, and meaning-making.

In both clinical research and lived experience, serving others has been shown to reduce depression, anxiety, and loneliness, while increasing purpose, self-worth, and emotional regulation. For those navigating eating disorders, trauma, or mental health struggles, service can provide a path toward connection and restoration—when used intentionally and in balance.

What Is Service as Therapy?

“Service as therapy” refers to the use of prosocial behaviors—voluntary acts intended to benefit others—as a pathway to personal emotional growth and psychological well-being. It doesn’t replace clinical treatment, but it can complement therapy by addressing:

• Disconnection and isolation

• Chronic self-focus or rumination

• Lack of meaning or purpose

• Shame and low self-worth

Importantly, service must be intentional, consensual, and boundaried—not performative, codependent, or self-neglecting.

The Psychological Benefits of Helping Others

1. Reduces Rumination and Negative Thinking

Helping others can shift focus from internal distress to external contribution. This redirect often reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, especially in individuals who struggle with overthinking, perfectionism, or low self-worth.

“When I was helping that kid read, I wasn’t thinking about calories or control. I was just there.”

Research Insight:
A study by Kramer (2014) found that volunteering was associated with reductions in depressive symptoms and improved mental health, especially when the volunteer perceived their work as meaningful.

2. Promotes Meaning and Purpose

Service invites individuals to see themselves as capable, valuable, and needed. This is especially powerful for those recovering from eating disorders, trauma, or chronic illness—conditions that often erode a person’s sense of purpose.

Even small acts of kindness can reframe identity from “patient” or “burden” to “helper” or “connector.”

Research Insight:
Victor Frankl’s work in Man’s Search for Meaning (1946) emphasized that the pursuit of meaning—even in suffering—is central to psychological survival.

3. Strengthens Empathy and Social Connection

Volunteering fosters a sense of shared humanity. When people give their time or skills, they often report feeling more connected to others, less alone in their pain, and more emotionally resilient.

Service also offers non-verbal connection, which can feel safer for individuals who struggle with vulnerability or verbal expression.

Research Insight:
Brown et al. (2003) found that people who provided practical or emotional support to others had lower mortality rates and better psychological outcomes than those who did not, even when controlling for other health behaviors.

4. Builds Identity Beyond the Illness

For many individuals in recovery—especially from eating disorders—their identity has become tied to the illness. Acts of service help build a more expansive sense of self:

• “I’m someone who contributes.”

• “I can offer something that matters.”

• “I have skills, gifts, and presence that are valuable.”

This reorientation toward strength-based identity is a cornerstone of long-term recovery.

Types of Service That Support Healing

Not all forms of service are equal in therapeutic impact. The most healing acts tend to be:

Relational

• Mentoring youth

• Helping elderly neighbors

• Offering peer support to others in recovery

Creative

• Sharing art, music, or writing for a cause

• Creating resources for others (e.g., blog posts, care kits, educational content)

Embodied

• Volunteering at an animal shelter

• Gardening with a community group

• Helping at food banks or mutual aid efforts

The common thread is engagement with something beyond the self, in a way that feels reciprocal, aligned, and emotionally safe.

Boundaries and Cautions

Service becomes therapeutic only when it supports the self, not erases it.

Red flags to watch for:

• Using service to avoid your own emotions or needs

• Helping others to earn approval or avoid guilt

• Overcommitting to feel “good enough”

• Neglecting rest, nourishment, or recovery tasks in favor of service

If helping others leaves you feeling drained, resentful, or more disconnected, it may be time to reassess your motives or scale back.

Key questions to ask:

• Am I also helping myself while helping others?

• Do I feel more grounded, open, or empowered afterward?

• Am I acting from guilt or from care?

Service and Eating Disorder Recovery

In eating disorder treatment, especially in later stages of recovery, service can be introduced as a way to:

• Reconnect with values and community

• Shift from perfectionism to presence

• Repair the inner belief that one is only worthy when performing

• Use lived experience to support others (e.g., mentorship, advocacy)

Peer mentorship programs, advocacy groups, and supervised volunteering often support relapse prevention by reinforcing meaning and accountability.

Final Thought

True service is not about self-sacrifice—it’s about shared humanity. It says: “I see you, I’ve been where you are, and I believe healing is possible.” And in saying that to another person, we often begin to believe it for ourselves.

Helping others does not fix everything. But it often opens the door to hope, humility, and healing—especially when paired with clinical care and self-compassion.

When done mindfully and with balance, service is not just something you give—it’s something that gives back.

References

• Frankl, V. E. (1946). Man’s Search for Meaning. Beacon Press.

• Brown, S. L., Nesse, R. M., Vinokur, A. D., & Smith, D. M. (2003). Providing social support may be more beneficial than receiving it. Psychological Science, 14(4), 320–327.

• Kramer, B. J. (2014). Volunteerism and well-being in older adults. Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research, 2014, 1–8.

• Schwartz, C. E., & Sendor, R. M. (1999). Helping others helps oneself: Response shift effects in peer support. Social Science & Medicine, 48(11), 1563–1575.

• Piliavin, J. A., & Siegl, E. (2007). Health benefits of volunteering in the Wisconsin longitudinal study. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 48(4), 450–464.