Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy

[Daniel E.]

Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (part 3)
by Dr. Stephen Diamond
February 2, 2012

What really happens in psychotherapy? The answer to that question is complex. And depends in part on the type of psychotherapy one seeks. And who provides it. But one thing psychotherapy can convey to patients are certain essential secrets to living a more rich, meaningful, creative, balanced life. What are some of these traditional, time-honored secrets? Here, in Part Three (see parts One and Two) of Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy, are, in no special order, seven more highly distilled offerings of powerful clinical wisdom for your consideration. I hope readers find one or two that synchronistically speak to them and their own specific concerns.

Forgiveness cannot be forced. Giving someone your forgiveness prematurely, prior to really feeling it, is not in your best interest...

Anger is your ally. Anger is one of the most maligned human emotions....

Love always hurts. We like to think of love as a joyful, uplifting, experience. And it can be. But love also has a dark side. Opening oneself up to love is risky and dangerous business. Many psychotherapy patients intuitively know this, which is why they resist doing so...

Swallowing the "bitter pill." We can't change the past...

Even victims are responsible for their attitude and actions. This is one of the most controversial (and politically incorrect) secrets of psychotherapy...

The wisdom of insecurity. When our most disturbing fears and worries are carefully examined and carried out to their logical conclusions, death and death anxiety is often (but not always) what we find lurking there...

The paradoxical power of No. For many psychotherapy patients, saying No is one of the hardest things to do...


Previous posts:

Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (Part One)
Essential Secrets of Psychotherapy: The Healing Power of Clinical Wisdom (Part Two)

 

[suewatters1]

In part two this part of a quoted text

When patients come for therapy, what they typically want is for the doctor to extricate them from some problematic situation, symptom or state of mind. To alleviate their suffering as quickly as possible. To swiftly solve their problem. That is understandable. And this is exactly what contemporary treatment approaches like psychopharmacology, CBT and even DBT (see my prior post) attempt to provide. Symptomatic relief. But these are all forms of what I would call "suppressive therapy." The truth is that, psychologically speaking, suppressing symptoms without addressing the underlying problem is only a temporary fix. Eventually, they return with a vengeance. Or else require stronger and stronger suppression over time. More medication. More treatment. The secret, as Jung (and, unconsciously, his patient) understood, is not to suppress or escape the problem, but being willing to go through it. Not around it. Not over or under it. But right through it. What would that look like? This theme comes up quite often in treatment, especially when patients are feeling resistant to confronting their deepest fears, agonies or concerns. To facing the unconscioius. They instinctively want out. Out of the fire or proverbial "frying pan." Or the "hotseat" of psychotherapy. But it is the therapist's job, like Jung in his patient's dream (and in reality), or like Virgil in Dante, to carefully and compassionately guide and facilitate the patient's full immersion into the flames. Down into their personal inferno. Gradually. In measured, titrated doses. And, finally, through it. Then, and only then, suppression will no longer be necessary. As the ancient alchemists suggested: "Into the destructive element immerse yourself." Only then can you be creatively transformed.

I feel this is me wanting the DR fix the problem as soon as possible and my DR wanting the same thing but I need to go through the process of dealing with it and get through it not walking around the problem like it never happen.

Sue

 

[Daniel E.]

Such psychodynamic therapy, as that author says, can supplement CBT, DBT, etc., since they are not mutually exclusive. (But for OCD, psychodynamic therapy can be counterproductive, reinforcing that obsessive thoughts are to be taken seriously.)

And from one of the comments by a psychiatrist:

You're positing a philosophical viewpoint and understanding which may be absolutely true - but until it's clinically proven to help these patients more than the "superficial" therapies, as you called them, I'd advise therapists to keep working with DBT and CBT in their toolbox...

Changing the way one thinks and reacts emotionally is hardly superficial.

 

[suewatters1]

It's true

Changing the way one thinks and reacts emotionally is hardly superficial.

But part of that is also to deal with the problem head on.

Sue

 

[Daniel E.]

Well, as you may know Sue, these debates between CBT and psychodynamic therapy are decades old, so there is some truth to both sides of the ongoing debate.

People used to go to psychoanalysis several times a week for years with sometimes/often? not much to show for it (at least relative to the cost). And insurance wouldn't pay for that many sessions, anyway. So the trend now is that psychoanalysis is used as one tool in the toolbox:

The number of professionals who practice an exclusive form of psychodynamic therapy today is a small percentage of psychotherapists. Many psychotherapists use components of psychodynamic theories, however, in their formulation of a client’s issues, while employing other types of psychological techniques (most often, cognitive-behavioral techniques) to affect change in the individual.

Psychodynamic Therapy | Psych Central

And there is something else called solution-focused brief therapy that emphasizes that sometimes the solution has little to do with the problem. So instead of going deep into the problem, it's important to go deep into solutions -- even if one has to randomly/experimentally try out different solutions.

What everyone agrees on, though, is that having a good fit/relationship with one's therapist is important.