I’m pleased that someone finally got the idea I had decades ago, to write about the experience of being in counseling or “treatment.” I suggested this idea to my therapist in the 1980’s. I said wouldn’t it be interesting for her to write up her experience of counseling me and then I would write my perspective of the experience, a kind of counseling from both sides of the couch.
I see now that this story would have to be totally fictionalized to protect the innocent (and the guilty, hee, hee!) But I think we are all inherently nosy about what goes on in other peoples’ lives, and especially in therapy. This show could have an additional advantage. It might convince others to try therapy by showing them how non-threatening and even beneficial it could be for many.
As previously stated, my therapy with a great therapist for five years, was unequivocally the best spent time and money of my entire life. With an excellent therapist and a courageous willingness to explore your Self and your past, therapy can explain so much about your personality and your way of approaching life. Then it can change everything in very positive ways. But the client has to be willing to trust the situation and then open completely to facing themselves and the pain in their past in a safe, supportive space.
I saw an interview with Gabriel Byrne, whom I like as an actor. He had some interesting things to say about playing a psychotherapist. He spoke of the many issues that can come up in therapy: compassion, vulnerability, empathy, re-examination of your identity, your marriage, sex life, children, etc. He said he had learned from playing this role, that to really listen to another is a form of love, and wondered out loud: “Where are the wise elders of today?”
Byrne also admitted that he has never tried psychotherapy himself. I find it fascinating to see all these TV viewers projecting all sorts of wonderful psychotherapeutic traits on to an actor that is only speaking the words given to him by some excellent writers. I hope at least the writers have had experience in therapy! Byrne says people stop him on the street and give him advice about the treatment of certain patients, etc. What is the world coming to???
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what is the world coming to?
do you need to know how to build a watch to tell what time it is?
some are motivated to change behavior to avoid future disappointments, some are motivated by disappointments generated by current behavior. Different strokes for different folks.
Happy Easter!
SB