How does therapy actually work, how do you find a good one, and what’s the difference between counseling/therapy/psychiatrists/psychologists/etc.?
In: Other
I’m going to vastly oversimplify how it works, but:
Me: shows up to therapy as a simmering cauldron of low self-esteem and negative self-talk
Therapist: gets me to talk about these things
Therapist: helps me explore where these things probably came from (i.e., formative years with fucked-up parents)
Therapist: validates that things were severely fucked-up; provides thoughts on how it could have been handled better (if you really trust and respect your shrink, this voice will eventually replace the shitty-parent voice in your head)
Me: continues week-by-week to report new stimulus from my life and how I am handling these things
Therapist: understands current course of action based on deep understanding of my past, continues to validate current feelings, but also suggests different ways to handle and interpret these things going forward
Me: very slowly learns a different way of thinking about life and about myself, and of handling the things the world throws at me
I really believe in therapy as a long-term iterative process. It doesn’t happen in a weekend workshop; you have to keep experiencing the world and give your brain the chance to assimilate the possibility of doing things differently.
Latest Answers