Considering therapy?
The majority of us build a set of coping mechanisms throughout our lives that can help us to face life’s challenges as they arise. Common coping methods include meditation, reaching out to some self-help literature or taking up a regular fitness regime. We also each have friends and family on whom we can count for love and support. Yet, with all these good intentions, it is difficult for friends to be unbiased or to tell us things they fear may hurt us. Nor are they able to understand all that they see and hear in us.
Psychotherapy is often referred to as 'talking treatment' as it is usually based on creating a regular time and space for an individual to talk about his problems, explore difficult feelings and work towards solutions with a trained professional. Other forms of therapy may include a variety of communication methods, such as writing, music or artwork.
If you are considering counselling, but are perhaps a little sceptic, thinking along the lines of ‘what can they tell me that I haven’t already thought of myself’? Or perhaps perceiving it as a cure for self-obsessed celebrities or others with too much time or money on their hands, take a minute to look at the following, proven benefits that it can bring to anyone’s life.
Bear in mind that while therapy is often not a quick fix the gains here are deep and long lasting:
- Research in the field has shown that verbalizing feelings and getting one’s worries out into the open has a significant therapeutic effect on the brain.
- A professional has the ability to listen in a very different way to other people, and therefore is capable of hearing what others do not, even the speaker themselves... This means that they can recognize shame where others hear aggression, fear where others hear anger. This invaluable ability can allow the speaker to get a completely new perspective, a different way of hearing and recognising his or her feelings and emotions.
- Therapy can also help one understand others, and this enhanced understanding has a positive influence on relationships with family, friends and co-workers.
- Exploring one’s past and individual circumstances in a confidential set up helps people to feel less on their own and identify choices for change. This ongoing support, throughout the highly challenging path of change, helps a person to reach a state where he or she is better equipped to cope with the future.
