Introduction
Psychological therapy is also known as talking therapy. It means speaking with a therapist about the difficulties you are experiencing in the hope that they can help you. What it will look like exactly is very individual as every person is different but there tends to be some similarities across people and approaches. It is often helpful to talk about your story, your experiences and how you experience the world. Sometimes it can be helpful to focus on the past while sometimes it can be more helpful to focus on the here and now or a bit of both.
Understanding is key, if you can understand yourself including your thoughts, feelings and patterns of behaviour then you can decide what changes you want to make. Sometimes it’s not about actively wanting to make changes in your life but about wanting to be heard and understood by someone else. I like to think about therapy as a journey where you have someone to metaphorically hold your hand while you face things that might be difficult to face on your own.
The most important part of therapy is the therapeutic relationship. That means that you need to feel like you can talk to your therapist, that you trust them and that they understand you. Your therapist may not always say what you want to hear but if you have a good therapeutic relationship then hopefully you will trust that they have your best interests at heart and want to help you.
It can feel scary to make the decision to enter psychological therapy. The unknown always brings some nervousness at the best of times but talking to someone about your most private thoughts and experiences is definitely nerve wracking. As is often the case in life: the imagined fear is worse than the reality. Relief is often expressed once clients begin. I wish I could say that the journey of therapy is easy but as with most things that are worth doing it can be hard and can mean that things get slightly worse before they get better as you face difficult thoughts and feelings. For those that take the leap of faith, it does tend to be worth it.