Yeah, I think in fairness most therapists would agree that many things are therapeutic outside of therapy. In fact many therapists do see themselves as a sort of emergency solution but not something you regularly need in the way you regularly need to brush your teeth. Pop-psychology randos online may act like therapy is nonnegotiable, but I fear that this then results in people attributing those claims to actual therapists and discrediting what is indeed a very valuable thing that (IMO) most people could benefit from. Unfortunately few people can read well enough to even get through the first chapter of any non-contemporary writing (even when its not philosophical), and therapists do also have a lot of scientific knowledge as well.

We must know different people. In my social circles, I know a bunch of people who would really benefit from therapy and think that climbing a mountain and reading Nietzsche is all they need. And honestly, that may be true, but they don't actually end up doing either of those things because they found them too difficult. Which brings me back to like "maybe first just talk to the person whose whole expertise is to help you with this".

Its a middle ground. Therapy is not a necessity or silver bullet, its also not useless or a scam. And in my experience the people who insist they don't need it are the ones who need it most