Usually longer term than Counselling, 1-2 times a week.
Psychotherapy allows space for more persistent issues and feelings to be addressed.
Allows time and space to examine how early experiences and traumas have left their mark on our inner world.
I sometimes conceptualize these “Marks on the Inner World” as a knot in a tree. We grow around these knots, which may or may not be visible from the outside, but the affect how we grow; often affecting our perceptions and expectations of ourselves, others, and the world.
Unfortunately these expectations can then become self-fulfilling as we unconsciously find people and situations to play out our familiar patterns of interactions. This tends to end up reaffirming those familiar thoughts or feelings about self, others and the world.
These ‘Life Positions’ can be:
- Joyless
- Loveless
- Mindless
It can be difficult to see. Sometimes all we get are glimpses of how this internal pattern fits together. Often these glimpses come at times of crisis, when we find ourselves ‘here again’.
I believe these patterns can be changed. Allowing space to explore why and how these patterns emerged in a non-judgemental environment can help us see more options.
It is important to be compassionate to those parts of ourselves that were missed and the defensive patterns we developed to cope with our past environment as we experienced it.
All this takes time and each person must go at their own pace.
There is no need to hurry through.