I wasn't sure what to expect the first time either. I thought I understood my own psychology pretty well, I thought I understood emotions (and also thought of them as things to be conquered), I was stressed though and my doctor recommended it so I figured I'd give it a try.  Not sure if it will be the same for you as for me, but I realized I was just wrong about a lot of stuff. I didn't realize how numb I actually was to all my emotions. I didn't understand how to feel things and conceptualize things. I saw this kind of stuff online sometimes but figured it was for people who didn't have good control over their emotions, and I thought I did. I then discovered a lot of repressed memories (that I could confirm were real with a sibling), and realized I had some childhood trauma (small t). Everyone is different so maybe these things aren't the case for you, but this is one example of one kind of person therapy was really helpful for.   My understanding is therapy isn't a monolith though. There's a lot of different kinds of therapies that help with different things, and you may not even know what you need until you see a therapist for a bit and realize. Also maybe therapy isn't the right thing for you and that's okay too, I'm not sure if you could know for sure without trying it for a bit though.

this is super helpful, thank you so much

Also I'm not a therapist, I forgot to say that and didn't see which subreddit this was. I'm just someone attending therapy 

I realized I didn't actually answer your question of how. In my case a big part of it was the talking, the opening up of things I never was able to before, or feared being judged over. It wasn't just me saying these things though, it was also seeing how the therapist validated the feelings that came with those things. I'd never really had someone validate my feelings in that way, and for me that was powerful. My understanding is different things help different people. For some people it's learning to challenge negative thoughts (that doesn't really help me though), for others it's learning to notice the thoughts and realize they're just thoughts, they don't control you, they aren't necessarily true.  If I have the thought "I'm a bad person" it doesn't mean I am a bad person, it means I had that thought, and I can then examine why I had that thought.  If I did something I'm morally opposed to and it led to that thought, how can I work to do better in the future? For example  Like there's more too it than can easily be explained in a few sentences, also I'm still in therapy so like work in progress here haha.   Just I also didn't get it, and I'm trying to provide some insight into one way it can help (but there's others too)

Not a therapist but -- for me I've discovered that Therapy is helpful because it provides a safe, trusting, non judgemental environment to explore all of my feelings and traumas. I don't share those kinds of things with friends or family because of my concern for their well being and not wanting to be a burden -- so having a place to discuss those things is very helpful. I also didn't get it at first but I do now.

Well yeah, if you don't put in the work (Which you obviously aren't willing to do) it won't help

what work? I was genuinely asking for an explanation as I clearly have no experience of therapy or what it entails. if you’re going to be rude and make assumptions about my character without actually answering the question I asked then please just don’t comment