What is therapy?
The word 'therapy' can sound off-putting. We may well feel uncomfortable at the thought that we might need or benefit from having some sessions with a psychotherapist. Essentially though, therapy and counselling is about giving yourself the time to step back from your life and have a gentle look at what has been happening for you. A therapist is a neutral professional who is trained to support you in your personal, confidential exploration of your most intimate thoughts and feelings and the things that are troubling you and perhaps making you feel like you are not living the life you wanted or expected.
It is common to fear that we are the only ones that feel the way we do, or have the problems we have. Speaking our thgouths and feelings and fears can help us to gain perspective on where we are.Sometimes, people feel having therapy is somehow self-indulgent, that they should "pull themselves together and get on with it" but underneath these thoughts they may be aware that they are experiencing symptoms and feelings that tell them that all is not as they might want it to be. I believe a helpful way to consider such things is that our minds/psyche/spirit has a way of telling us there are areas where we need to change and grow. Symptoms and difficult feelings can be seen as an invitation for change and growth.
It is not necessarily an easy process. It often means connecting with painful experiences and feelings that go back to our early lives. These can be feelings and memories that are hard to face or express - it may seem easier to bury them away and try to forget about them. However, although for years we may manage to do this, perhaps by adopting distracting behaviours and attitudes such as by being busy, the unprocessed past will tend sooner or later to come out in other, often unexpected, ways which do not serve us well in our adult lives. These struggles with behaviours and feelings can then lead people to feel out of control of their own lives and prevent them from fulfilling their own unique potential.
It is common to fear that we are the only ones that feel the way we do, or have the problems we have. Speaking our thgouths and feelings and fears can help us to gain perspective on where we are.Sometimes, people feel having therapy is somehow self-indulgent, that they should "pull themselves together and get on with it" but underneath these thoughts they may be aware that they are experiencing symptoms and feelings that tell them that all is not as they might want it to be. I believe a helpful way to consider such things is that our minds/psyche/spirit has a way of telling us there are areas where we need to change and grow. Symptoms and difficult feelings can be seen as an invitation for change and growth.
It is not necessarily an easy process. It often means connecting with painful experiences and feelings that go back to our early lives. These can be feelings and memories that are hard to face or express - it may seem easier to bury them away and try to forget about them. However, although for years we may manage to do this, perhaps by adopting distracting behaviours and attitudes such as by being busy, the unprocessed past will tend sooner or later to come out in other, often unexpected, ways which do not serve us well in our adult lives. These struggles with behaviours and feelings can then lead people to feel out of control of their own lives and prevent them from fulfilling their own unique potential.