Are there Bad Psychotherapies?
Many years ago, a young lady approached me for psychotherapy treatment.
In our first meeting I explained to her the process of change that she would experience.
She was told explicitly that she would experience release of anger as she worked in the process.
I then gave her an exercise to do as homework.
Two sessions later, a nasty email appeared in my mailbox.
It was full of venom that the young lady had been carrying within herself for so many years of her life.
She asked me to cancel her next appointment, which I did and never saw her again.
This is one of the few examples from the client's perspective when therapy is considered 'bad'.
The interesting thing was that I was fully cognizant of what was happening.
But who could reason with an angry person? I was not in a position to explain or be heard at that time.
Wisdom demanded that I let her go and I did.
Sometimes psychotherapies are considered bad or destructive and sometimes they are supposed to do good the client.
Someone who has knowledge and experience of psychotherapy process will say that the outcome of all psychotherapies is good.
The word 'psychotherapy' means 'healing of the soul'.
It is a process in which a person deals with the fears, hurts and traumas they have undergone in their lives.
In the journey that one goes through, there are changes in mood states.
The anger and bitterness that a person carries comes out.
From an outsider' s perspective, the person becomes worse than before.
But from the physical body's perspective, it is getting used to the emotions and is processing the emotions.
The end result of the process is therefore always positive.
Problem arises when someone stops the process of therapy when they are going through a bad time.
This is done because the person may believe erroneously that they will never get well.
'I came to get better and I have become worse.
So the therapy is making me worse.
I do not want to do this'.
These sentences are common to those people who lack the understanding of the process of change that takes place in psychotherapy.
This results in their discontinuing the process of healing themselves.
If instead they would have persevered with the process they could reach the stage of happiness and contentment that they look for.
If a therapist is not experienced or not well trained, they may get the impression that whatever they are doing is not working.
This may set a sense of anxiety in the therapist.
This anxiety makes things worse for the client because the client can unconsciously be affected by the emotional state of the therapist.
Psychotherapy is a process that requires patience on the part of the client and also on the part of the therapist.
If one of them is impatient, the process cannot be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
If both of them are patient and the therapist is well trained, the outcome is bound to be positive.
This is my experience and observation.
In our first meeting I explained to her the process of change that she would experience.
She was told explicitly that she would experience release of anger as she worked in the process.
I then gave her an exercise to do as homework.
Two sessions later, a nasty email appeared in my mailbox.
It was full of venom that the young lady had been carrying within herself for so many years of her life.
She asked me to cancel her next appointment, which I did and never saw her again.
This is one of the few examples from the client's perspective when therapy is considered 'bad'.
The interesting thing was that I was fully cognizant of what was happening.
But who could reason with an angry person? I was not in a position to explain or be heard at that time.
Wisdom demanded that I let her go and I did.
Sometimes psychotherapies are considered bad or destructive and sometimes they are supposed to do good the client.
Someone who has knowledge and experience of psychotherapy process will say that the outcome of all psychotherapies is good.
The word 'psychotherapy' means 'healing of the soul'.
It is a process in which a person deals with the fears, hurts and traumas they have undergone in their lives.
In the journey that one goes through, there are changes in mood states.
The anger and bitterness that a person carries comes out.
From an outsider' s perspective, the person becomes worse than before.
But from the physical body's perspective, it is getting used to the emotions and is processing the emotions.
The end result of the process is therefore always positive.
Problem arises when someone stops the process of therapy when they are going through a bad time.
This is done because the person may believe erroneously that they will never get well.
'I came to get better and I have become worse.
So the therapy is making me worse.
I do not want to do this'.
These sentences are common to those people who lack the understanding of the process of change that takes place in psychotherapy.
This results in their discontinuing the process of healing themselves.
If instead they would have persevered with the process they could reach the stage of happiness and contentment that they look for.
If a therapist is not experienced or not well trained, they may get the impression that whatever they are doing is not working.
This may set a sense of anxiety in the therapist.
This anxiety makes things worse for the client because the client can unconsciously be affected by the emotional state of the therapist.
Psychotherapy is a process that requires patience on the part of the client and also on the part of the therapist.
If one of them is impatient, the process cannot be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
If both of them are patient and the therapist is well trained, the outcome is bound to be positive.
This is my experience and observation.
