Why Psychotherapy?

The process of psychotherapy can be long or short, comforting yet tortured, interesting while upsetting, and very effective.

            People come for psychotherapy because they are not happy.  They may be suffering from clear symptoms of depression or anxiety, or their unhappiness may not be so clearly definable, but they still find that they are confused, lonely, stressed, angry or sad.

The process of psychotherapy, at least the way I do it, offers more than a method of feeling better, it offers a chance to explore, understand, choose, and take control of one’s life as much as possible.  Much of what happens in our lives is not under our control.  We cannot control the weather, random acts, the economy, and even the behaviors of the other members of our families.  But we can learn to anticipate, influence, assert ourselves, and shape our environment so that it becomes more responsive, pleasing and productive, both for those around us and ourselves.

Psychotherapy also offers a place to deal with the difficulties that come with making changes. Even when these changes seem to be what is desired, the process of changing thoughts, attitudes, feelings and behaviors is very difficult.  Under stress we all quickly return to the behaviors which are most familiar.  These are the patterns, which developed because they worked for us in the past, probably in our families of origin, but are no longer successful in our current situations.  Psychotherapy offers support to someone while he or she is learning to respond in new, unfamiliar ways.

            Today there are many alternatives available to people who are suffering with psychological or emotional difficulties.  There are medications and meditations, acupuncture and aromas.  All of these can be effective and I have worked with people who also benefit from these interventions.  Yet the research has demonstrated that the experience of psychotherapy offers the most lasting and integrative changes to a person’s life.  This is true because through psychotherapy a person learns to recognize the difficulties, formulate options to make changes, and to choose among those options.  This gives that person the exhilarating feeling of being in control of his or her own life.  That, in turn, opens the door to better interpersonal relationships, greater productivity and creativity.

            I feel very gratified when I am part of that process with my clients.

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