What Do We Do With What We Learn In Therapy?

What do we do with all the knowledge we learn in therapy?  Hopefully, you are applying it to your everyday life experiences, or at least trying to.  As much as people tend to want to believe that therapy is about the past, it is more about understanding the past so you don't repeat it.  We all have developed positive and negative patterns of thinking and behaving. So you are not alone.

It is understanding how these ingrained thoughts and behaviors "get in the way," or even benefit us that help to optimize our lives.  It is easy to say I live in the "here and now" and I don't need therapy. Understanding that your "here and now" is nothing less than an amalgamation of past experiences, both good and bad and even in between is what therapy helps to uncover.  In other words, it allows for you to finally be more in charge of your "Here and Now."

Of course this is not resolved in 12 easy steps, it is a process that requires an ongoing commitment of both therapist and client.  It often implies that there are setbacks and is not a linear process.  Developing trust with a therapist takes time, feeling safe enough to explore secrets requires trust and both of these take time to develop in any relationship, including a therapeutic one.  

Band-Aids have their purpose in the medicine cabinet, but if you need sutures see a doctor. So don't fall prey to the easy fix, it does work temporarily on the specific issue in question, but it is not modeled to help you understand causality (the reasons under the behavior in the first place) and the primary reason they are only "short term fixes" to long term problems.  Understanding the reasons why we repeat self sabotaging behaviors, helps offset new thinking and behaviors that help us make clearer choices and less damaging ones.

Self help is wonderful, and helpful to millions of folks, and that is often all they require or want out of their programs.  Some however, seek more answers to the questions and a deeper understanding that comes with growing mentally and emotionally stable in their particular self help program.  It is these individuals that seek outside guidance for deeper understanding of their questions and lead to a healthier lifestyle.  Therapy is an excellent option to helping explore those esoteric questions that are sometimes to complex for the self help route, or even the rooms.  

Again, what do we do with what we learn in therapy?  We apply it to live healthier and happier lives as more self actualized people that better understand what motivates their thoughts and actions.  Living in the present "here and now" as fully as possible, no longer prisoners of our past memories, behaviors, self destructive desires. This is what therapy can offer anyone seeking a happier life that is patient enough to work a little toward their goals to truly experience the moments in their life as they unfold in the "Here and Now." As always I hope you found this helpful and informative.  Feel free to contact me for consultations.  

All the Best,

Dr Kevin
www.DrKevinOBrien.com