2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
Having worked for several years, I am faced with the need to explain the nuances of psychotherapy in an understandable and intelligible language for clients. As you know, the language of metaphors is well suited for describing complex processes. I once compared working with a psychologist to working in the gym. This is how a series of metaphors came about, which I decided to present in this article.
The information will be useful for everyone who does not have experience in psychotherapy, but is thinking about applying.
Psychotherapy is not only about the time you spent in a psychologist's chair. / When do muscles grow?
Most people know that muscles don't grow during exercise. During training, we only give stress to them, and in response, a compensation mechanism is triggered, leading to muscle growth. Those. muscles grow during rest and recovery. Psychotherapy is all inner work that occurs from meeting to meeting. You think about something, worry, analyze and remember, sleep dreams, answer questions. Office meetings keep this work at a certain level of intensity.
How often should you see a psychologist? / How many times a week should you train?
Empirically, it turned out that the minimum sufficient regularity of meetings with a psychologist, psychotherapist is once a week. With such a periodicity, internal work can be maintained at a certain level. It is possible more often (in acute conditions it is even recommended), but everything depends on the ability to allocate time and money for this. Once a week is enough. Is it possible less often: once every two to three weeks? You can go to the gym once a week, but there will be no results, or they will be insignificant, compared to classic workouts 2-3 times a week. That is, by choosing to walk less often, you must understand that this will affect your progress.
Is it possible to quickly achieve a result with a psychotherapist? / How to get pumped up by the summer in a month?
Will you believe in the "super-method" that promises to turn any person into a competitive athlete in 1-2 months? I would be skeptical about such statements. Different inputs, different genetics, and different experiences. All this will affect the final result. Certain change processes take time to mature. Just as nature cannot be deceived, so it will not be possible to achieve dramatic changes in a short time.
When I want a quick result from psychotherapy. / I want to look like a man from the cover of a magazine
Different people get different results after spending the same amount of time in the gym. Why is this happening? Because the final result is influenced by a large number of factors: genetics (everyone was lucky in different ways), a properly structured training process, compliance with rest and nutrition regimes, perseverance, and so on. There are no fewer factors in psychotherapy: the ability to change, the degree of awareness, inner work on oneself, the depth of the problems involved, life experience.
Can I work on myself and solve problems on my own? / Do I need a personal trainer in the gym?
Of course, you can try practicing on your own, reading relevant literature, spying on others, experimenting and trying new things. But you will definitely make mistakes, not paying attention to small nuances, and this will nullify your efforts. Over time, you will lose motivation, and it will become even more difficult to navigate a variety of methods. So the psychotherapist will not do your work for you, these are your efforts and your therapy, but he will be next to you to tell you your mistakes, support and insure, share his knowledge. After many years of training with a coach, athletes can keep fit and train based on their knowledge and experience. So clients after long-term therapy need less and less involvement from the therapist. They acquire a specific skill, sufficient awareness to continue to work on themselves.
Is it possible to enhance the effect of therapy? / Doping for athletes
Modern pharmacology makes it possible to step over human genetic limitations. Is there something similar in psychotherapy? We are not talking about mind-expanding pills, which, by the way, were tried by individual psychotherapists in the 20th century. But individual psychotherapy is not the only form of therapy. There is also group therapy. If you combine these two forms of individual and group therapy weekly, you will achieve significantly greater personal results. There are also exotic methods. For example, marathons, when group therapy goes non-stop for 24-48-64 hours. Or a psychological intensive, when individual and group therapy is combined, and they take place away from home for 7-12 days from morning to evening. All this can be called "doping for psychotherapy"
I know what my problem is. / I know how to pump up the press
Many come to a psychologist, thinking that they know their problem for sure. Of course, after all, everyone knows that in order to remove the stomach, you need to pump more abs, and you can also rub this area with special ointments and put on belts. And far fewer people understand that it is impossible to remove fat locally, that in order to visualize the abs cubes, it is required to reduce the percentage of fat in the entire body to a critical level. Sometimes, our knowledge of the nature of our own problems is based on insufficient knowledge of ourselves and the mechanisms that run in us.
Sorry for time and money
Just as physical education (not sports) is an investment in your health and appearance, psychotherapy is an investment in yourself that can change the quality of your life. It's just a matter of motivation. Not everyone buys expensive season tickets and spends money on sports nutrition, achieving results with the means at their disposal. It is possible to find a psychologist on your budget today; it is possible to find free or very inexpensive groups. But it takes motivation and the need to allocate time for this. Wanting a better life and not doing anything about it will not lead you to your dreams.
Are there any guarantees that I will succeed?
There are no guarantees! Tens of thousands of people around the world try and give up, frustrated, motivated, challenged, and forced to make an effort. Someone comes back after a while. But we can definitely say that everyone who has spent a significant amount of time (a year or two) achieves certain results. This statement is true both in relation to the gym, and to regular work with a psychologist.
Most people perceive psychologists as doctors who need to be consulted when they get sick and are unable to. No one will live with a sprained leg trying to adapt to discomfort. But they will live with "dislocated brains", creating problems for themselves and those around them. Few people look at our profession as an investment in themselves and their quality of life. It is understandable, it is a luxury. Basic needs are more relevant than illusory possibilities for a happier life.
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