Why Therapy?

The sculpture above was created from pieces of metal, nuts, bolts, and driftwood. Nuts and bolts hold things together, as do a person's healthy defenses. For instance, repression can help a person avoid uncomfortable thoughts and feelings when they could otherwise overburden the self. Defenses provide for a positive adaptation to life until symptoms like anxiety and depression become overwhelming. It is at this point that people often seek therapy. Driftwood is a good metaphor for the unconscious, since, like unconscious thoughts and feelings, driftwood surfaces after being underwater for many years. With proper attention through therapy, our deepest wishes, fears, and hopes can surface. Often people say that they have awareness, but their behavior doesn't change. This is often due to intellectual insight that is not yet integrated with emotional awareness. Emotional awareness can enable an individual to reduce symptoms, and resolve conflicts. This resolution will lead to more satisfying life. 

How does therapy help with conflict? What are some elements of therapy that make for successful change?
When a person can become aware of their innermost thoughts and feelings, and learn to express their thoughts and feelings in constructive ways, self-confidence can develop, and feelings of shame can be healed. 

Awareness enables the soul - the real self - of the person to emerge. Often as children we were not invited to express true feelings, particularly if those feelings were critical or angry. One way to learn to discover the soul of ourselves is to learn to say what feels to be unacceptable in the presence of the therapist. 

Dr. Sehl would be interested in hearing about therapists' and patients' experience around these issues. Contact him today!