What Is Therapy?

One of the things I chat with clients about in session is what psychotherapy is. This is something I’ve found to be an important discussion to demystify therapy and to bring some clarity to the process. There are different models of psychotherapy therapists can use depending on their style and approach. I'm an attachment therapist with an integrative approach to therapy. This means my approach is built on a foundation of understanding the underlying troubles a client comes in with are rooted in how they learned to see and interact with others, themselves, and the world while in relationship with primary caregivers throughout infancy and childhood. Taking an integrative approach means I incorporate tools and theory from different models of therapy when in sessions with clients. This is to ensure the therapy fits the client’s needs. To explain therapy, I begin with this analogy…

Therapy is like updating the wiring in an old house.
When you walk into the old home, everything is structured the way it is for reasons that made sense in the time it was built,
and structured with the resources available at the time.
Perhaps the old way of wiring isn’t appropriate any longer.
Perhaps updating the wiring involves a completely different set-up.

This happens in life too. Just like the worker who went through an apprenticeship to hone his skills and learn how to use his tools and resources to install the original electrical, we have a particular set of tools and resources that are taught to us throughout childhood and adolescence. Sometimes, we get out into the world to use our skills, tools and resources, and things are different from what we’ve learned. Sometimes things change as time goes by and we need to be intentional about finding and learning how to use a different set of skills, tools and resources. The electrician may consult a more experienced electrician, perhaps upgrade his skills with further training, and go to the store to purchase the needed tools. For people struggling in relationships with others (partners, child rearing, grieving, co-workers and bosses), or when they look in their toolbox and find they don’t have the tools to deal with things like depression, anxiety, etc. Therapy is where you can go to learn and find the relevant tools and upgrades.

My next post will expand on this analogy, explaining the importance of safety and how external resources play in. Stay tuned!

- Tanya Rae