Why therapy? Four good reasons to see a counselor or therapist

Why therapy? Four good reasons to see a counselor or therapist

Why do people go to a therapist or counselor? Here are the four levels of therapy and counseling that will fruitfully benefit your life and, in some cases, in ways you can only guess.

The first stage is symptomatic or problem-based advice. If you have a specific problem, e.g. If you have symptoms such as disturbing nightmares, recurring eczema or skin problems, irritation, negativity or relationship problems, counseling - usually in the short term - can be of great benefit. The goal is obvious and clear: to deal with the problem at hand, not to dig too deep, and find a solution, a way through, a way to overcome the problem. Typically 6 to 10 sessions should be enough and with an effective practitioner the job should get done.

Secondly, it is about a therapy that goes a little deeper than the first level of purely symptomatic advice. So finding the underlying causes of presenting problems is almost certainly involved. For example, a middle-aged man suffering from a crisis of confidence discovers that his relationship with his domineering father is the cause of his present concerns, which negatively impact his functioning in the workplace. Or, in another example, a woman in her late thirties who finds herself attracted to younger men rediscovers the lifeless youth she forfeited for early security, marriage, and motherhood when she left home at 19 to marry a man who was materially secure. But while he offered her financial and material security, he was unable to meet her emotionally and intimately in the relationship. In both examples, a deeper cause or association is the key to solving the problem.

Third is what has become known as classical psychotherapy, depth psychotherapy, or grand psychotherapy (so many names!). In this approach to inner work, the client (or patient if analysis is involved) enters into a long-term commitment with a competent practitioner whose training and ability enables them to competently guide through the inner terrain to the source of the client's psyche. Deep existential problems can arise such as: Who am I? What if my purpose? How did I come to this? And for the spiritual or religious inclinations, the source of being or an experience of the numinous dimension of life.

Finally, the fourth level of psychotherapy and counseling is transpersonal or psycho-spiritual. This may include the previous three levels, particularly depth psychotherapy, but it goes beyond personality, character and related issues into the spiritual, transcendent and divine realms of human experience and reality. This approach is considered crucial by many people (including me) because it is directly related to ecology, political strife and injustice, bigotry, religious intolerance and ignorance. It is not only the intention of psycho-spiritual therapy to awaken the client-seeker individually, but also to awaken collective humanity.

Alternative practitioner psychotherapy

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