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In psychotherapy, you will be sitting on a chair across from the therapist you have chosen or beside her on a screen online. The focus will be on your conscious mind. Deeply hidden impressions in your subconscious mind are not the province of a conventional psychotherapist. 

             The psychotherapist will be a health professional often with a master’s degree in psychology, social work, or counseling. She or he will be licensed by your state. This person  might have specialties in a psychotherapeutic technique like  narrative therapy.

It is important to find out what special techniques the therapist uses. These might set off greater positive changes in you than just therapeutic conversations.

         The therapist will ask questions. You try to expose your feelings and your thoughts. The premise is that verbal communication is enough to resolve some of the issues troubling you. From what you say during the course of treatments, the psychotherapist is expected to identify your problems and offer advice. This is considered talk-based therapy.

Think about this. Are you able to express yourself well in speech? Are you able to articulate your feelings and thoughts? If not, any therapy primarily talk-based, may not be for you.



             The drawbacks of sheer talk-based psychotherapy

Your conscious mind may already have struggled unsuccessfully for years to solve your persistent predicaments. Excessive talking might keep you in the thought loops that cause your suffering. The therapists’ sound advice might not penetrate your subconscious mind or inner being. For this reason, an insightful psychotherapist will be able to occasionally supplement conversations with special techniques that bypass speech.

                   Special Techniques in Psychotherapy

                                  Narrative Therapy

      When my husband was in oncological care, the hospital provided 10 subsidized therapy sessions for me with a psychotherapist. I was assigned to Sharon, who sensed that I might prefer to do more writing than talking in our sessions. Because one of her specialties was narrative therapy, she suggested I write a short autobiographical essay for each session about different aspects of my life.

 Writing and speaking, though both verbal forms of communication, operate from totally different parts of the brain

         A study in the journal of Psychological Science claims that “[…] the two brain systems are now so independent that someone who can’t speak a grammatically correct sentence aloud may be able write it flawlessly.”

       This means that in therapy, some people might achieve much deeper calm and self- acceptance by writing more and talking less.

The idea behind narrative therapy is that the stories we construct about our lives are what smothers us.  They cause us suffering! So slowly and with insight we can reconstruct them anew!  Now that is empowering!

Let’s try to empower you through sampling some narrative  therapy

1.    Reflect on this question: How many times have you told yourself that you were damaged irreparably by someone in your life or some tragedy that befell you?

Who is that person? What did they do to you? Or what happened that has impacted you forever?

2.    Now reopen that story and sharpen your intuition.  Begin to write about that person or calamity on a fresh piece of paper from a fresh point of view.

3.    What hidden blessings were there in your relationship? What good did you take from the struggles and distress and calamity that make you who you are today?

Has your perception shifted a little? Do you feel somewhat strengthened?  Do you feel your heart and mind expanding inside?

YES, YOUR STORY IS BEING WRITTEN ANEW. GAINING DEEP INSIGHT IS A PROCESS. JUST KEEP IT UP. TILL YOU DECIDE WHAT KIND OF HELP YOU NEED!

                            drjune@drjunewritingguru.com