The Long Term Benefits of Psychotherapy

A prospective client asks him or herself, "Is psychotherapy worth the investment of time and money?"

Santayana's famous quote is "those who fail to learn the lessons of history are bound to repeat them." In essence, psychotherapy is learning the lessons of personal history so that we have increased freedom to shape our lives. online marriage counseling

Skillful therapists are teachers and problem-solvers in the domain of emotions and relationships. This is a very powerful domain, but it is so ever present that it is often in the background of awareness, like the blue sky or dark night. Psychotherapy

We all live in a complex web of relationships. Growing up in our family we learn both helpful, positive lessons and also un-helpful, negative lessons. Every family story has themes that are passed down through the generations. Some of these themes are very positive, "work hard and do your best", "never tell a lie", "treat others as you would have them treat you." marriage counseling near me

However, there are also unhappy and hurtful themes, "kill the pain with drink or drugs", "it's OK to take out your rage on others", "don't tell anyone if you are mistreated or abused."

Each of us enters adulthood with a mixed bag of positive and negative themes and we try our best to get along in the world. We are only partially aware of the negative themes and are often blindsided when a negative theme plays out in our lives. We act out the negative theme and we end up making a bad decision or we hurt someone we love or we self-defeat. marriage counseling

The painful problem that brings a client to therapy is valuable because it is an expression, an example of the troubling patterns that reside out of awareness. Seeking therapy is a great opportunity to bring negative themes into awareness, to put them into words and see them in action. the marriage counselor

A skilful therapist is trained to be an active listener and is able to put together the pieces of the puzzle. The therapist helps the client to self observe, to name and describe negative patterns of behaviour. Naming and describing brings self defeating behaviour out of the shadows and into awareness. Once in awareness the client is in a position to make a change.

The therapist can't prescribe solutions, each person is unique. The job of the therapist is to help the client formulate his or her own creative solution and to practice more rewarding behaviour.

If a person changes course by only a few degrees, it makes a big difference in the span of a life-time. Each generation sits on the shoulders of the prior generation. If the person seeking psychotherapy has a child or children then that parent's increased self-awareness will be a huge gift to the child.


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