It can sometimes be confusing to understand what kind of a process psychotherapy is and what kind of change it can offer (and what it cannot). Psychotherapy gives us the opportunity to talk openly with an impartial and non-judgmental professional. The trusting relationship in therapy is based on the confidentiality of the information shared by the client and the client's liberty to speak freely without censorship.

 

Therapy also gives us the opportunity to know ourselves more deeply. It allows us to see our own share in the difficulties we experience and to confront ourselves in a safe and compassionate environment. Knowing ourselves involves realizing how experiences from our past shape our current feelings, behaviors, and beliefs. This kind of awareness does not automatically solve our problems. However, it gives us back control over the course of our lives. From this point on, it is up to us to get back on the wheel or not. Therapy does not offer us easy solutions. The therapist is not someone who can make decisions on our behalf or tell us what to do. For this reason, the psychotherapy process can be challenging at times. It can sometimes encourage us to make difficult decisions and sometimes to feel emotions that are difficult to bear. The trusting relationship established with the therapist is very important for these very reasons.

 

Knowing ourselves better also makes it easier to be more natural and sincere, in other words, to “be ourselves” authentically. In the presence of a trusted expert who accepts us eıth our light and dark, a door opens for us to accept ourselves. We begin to look at and touch the things we cannot tolerate in ourselves. This helps us to establish more real and more genuine relationships with others.