To My Patients, Who Never Stop Teaching Me Things
Psychotherapy is an experiential and dialectical process, in which therapist and patient influence each other. There is mutual learning and transformation. Not only do patients change, learn and transform, but so do therapists to a greater or lesser extent (Araya, 2016).
Psychotherapy is a very special human encounter which involves the patient and the therapist opening up and giving up. We can understand it as a process in which the therapist places himself at the service of the patient, in such a way that the two can transform.
It is interesting to clarify what it means to us that our patients teach us things. Because when we tell a patient how much we admire him for his courage, and how precious his example is for our own life, a look of bewilderment and astonishment arises in him, as if he did not believe it. that it was possible (Araya, 2016).
The majority of people who decide to go into therapy usually do so when they are on the verge of losing control and bottoming out. It is then that psychologists realize the great strength of these people who, instead of getting lost in excuses, confront themselves.
To my patients, who teach me things every day
Our patients don’t explicitly teach us things. They do this implicitly with their lucidity, their commitment to their own processes and their ability to make the necessary decisions. As any good teacher would, our patients teach us by example (Araya, 2016).
My patients told me, without their knowing it. They showed me that what a person thinks of himself is what determines, or rather indicates, his situation. They taught me that what makes us fear failure is often the result of being tough on ourselves when we fail.
My patients have taught me that you can live with anxiety (by adapting to situations and resources) and that thoughts can be compared to a cloud pouring down a shower of words. My patients have taught me that panic can cripple us, but only when we don’t know how to listen to ourselves.
They also taught me that depression can stifle our cravings and delusions. But also that we have strengths that allow us to get out of it, to understand that if the opportunity does not present itself, we can create it.
Ultimately, the patients taught me to make room for the pain. And to understand that we only have what we cannot lose in a shipwreck.
They taught me that the desire to be well is half of our health
The use of psychotherapy is not to “achieve happiness”, as it is too generic and aseptic a concept. Our patients teach us to focus on a very specific goal: to learn to manage ourselves better and not to feel bad.
Psychotherapy is the treatment that aims to change thoughts, feelings and behaviors. It takes place between a professional with the training and skills to facilitate psychological change and the patient who needs help to alleviate the symptoms causing a significant degree of suffering.
It is not about making patients happy, but that they take control of their lives and acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to improve their well-being in the context in which they find themselves. As the father of logotherapy, Viktor Frankl, said, each age has its neuroses and each era needs its psychotherapy.
Our thoughts Lies about psychotherapy almost always revolve around the pointlessness or futility of psychological treatment. What are i …
