Therapy…..Why Do It?

As a dear and very wise friend of mine has said,

“The point of Therapy is to turn your past traumas into your strengths.”

Your past traumas could include life changing events like bereavement, serious accidents and illness, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, but also less noticeable situations; things that you found distressing that the people around you did not realise.

This might seem like a very lofty aim with an improbable outcome. People often enter therapy because they are feeling miserable and are happy with the result if they leave it after a few sessions, feeling quite a lot better. Which is fine, of course. They have entered a process and they have reached a stage where they feel they have progressed far enough for now. Maybe they need some time to allow the insights they have gained and the resulting changes in their reactions and behaviours to assimilate into their lives. Like other therapists, I have clients who come to me for a few sessions every year or so.

However, the fact that so many therapists only took up their work after having found support and healing themselves through therapy of one kind or another, would support the assertion that the goal of therapy is to turn your traumas into your strengths.

For many of us, this is a spiritual process; taking the difficulties that Life throws at you and learning to find the strength and resources within yourself to overcome them by facing them and learning what needs to be learned. This is not some idealistic, everything is always for the best philosophy. Terrible, terrible things happen to people in this Life and they experience rage, grief and despair. Yet people do manage to survive and to transform their suffering into powerful compassion and wisdom.

This process, of course, doesn’t only happen with a course of therapy. Religion and other spiritual practices play a part too, depending upon the individual concerned. Yet, if you decide you would like to explore therapy, do be aware that it is transformative process.