"The uncertainty about what I and the patient are there for, is what we are there for." - James Hillman

 

Often we turn to therapy when we are faced with problems we can no longer carry alone. No longer feeling at home within ourselves, we feel called to reconnect with who we are. When we experience a ‘loss of self’ or soul, a painful rift emerges within the psyche. We feel severed from meaning, purpose and joy.

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This loss can be caused by any number of things - relationship issues, challenging life transitions, grief - and can be experienced as any number of symptoms: depression, anxiety, self-destructive behaviours. It can also be caused by the past invading our present, in the persistent resurfacing of old psychological wounds and traumas. We become frozen in a particular psychological state, unable to fully heal and move forward.

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Therapy is unlike other interpersonal relationships in that it offers a place of unconditional acceptance and non-judgement. It is fundamentally a process of observance, where we listen carefully for what is being revealed moment-to-moment through our thoughts, feelings and memories.

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When we encounter distressing or complex feelings in life, often our instinct is to distract or resist. Through therapy, we learn to ‘go with’. To understand the value of our problems, and to recognise painful emotional states as messengers from the psyche that are calling us to name, confront and integrate whatever is afflicting us.

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Through quieting the rational mind and allowing our emotions to speak, we may then begin the process of untangling psychical knots and making sense of our inner world.