What is Therapy and How Does It Work?

How does therapy work? If several therapists, you are likely to get as many answers as you have therapists.  I’ll share with you my thoughts on therapy and how it works.

Taking yourself seriously.

First of all, therapy is about taking your emotional and inner life seriously, maybe for the first time. Beyond that, we all have places in our lives where we feel unaccountably stuck, or sad, anxious, or angry. The work I do with people is about finding out what is underneath that stuck feeling or the sadness, the anger or anxiety. When we look deeply at where our feelings come from, we can make surprising discoveries about their origins.  I work with people on learning how to navigate past these feelings and on to greater feelings of success, happiness and well-being.  Therapy is primarily a process of discovery, development and gradual change. While permanent change takes time, when we begin our work, I’ll share tools and coping skills you can use immediately to reduce the things you find most distressing.

Working on your life can feel great, 
even when it’s hard work.

That said, there’s no magic to it – therapy can be hard work and can be painful at times. It can mean looking at the underside of your life and being honest about things that so far have been too painful to face. But you don’t have to face those moments alone – making the choice to go to therapy is about making a connection with a therapist and facing those moments together. And even though it seems counterintuitive, there can be something joyful and liberating about finally working on your life, even when it's tough.