30 January 2014

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Therapy Myth: The All-Wise Therapist

On this blog, I would like to briefly and intermittently explore misconceptions about psychotherapy. Talk therapy – to use a blanket term encompassing everything from old-school Freudian psychoanalysis to newer approaches, like relational psychotherapy (which I practice) – view clients’ issues from different psychological, philosophical, and scientific angles. Because it has been around since the turn of the 20th century and has undergone so many changes, and because the way talk therapy as depicted in mainstream media sometimes stands in contrast to reality, I feel it necessary to address some general problems with perception. These “myths”, as I like to put it, are presented in no particular order.

The All-Wise Therapist: It goes without saying that we should aim to find a therapist who has undergone accredited training, who is a member of a recognized governing body or society, and who has done their own therapeutic work (sometimes referred-to under the generic moniker of “self-care”) and supervision. And yet there is a perception, not helped by some film and TV stereotypes, that all the client has to do is lay down and talk and the therapist – by virtue of her intelligence and analytical acumen alone – will solve all the riddles and guide the client towards necessary realizations. In other words, it’s a Sherlock Holmes episode where progress is predicated on the therapist’s insight.

Progressive approaches to therapy understand that the client is just as capable of guiding the therapeutic process as the therapist. Better still the therapeutic alliance – what we call the connection between the therapist and client during their work together – is capable of more empathetic and substantial discoveries than under the traditional (and outmoded) “you associate/I interpret” approach.

There are two people in the room, remember! And no one will ever understand you better than you are capable of understanding yourself. There is no expert on you outside of you. What that means is both you and your therapist have a hand on the steering wheel as you guide yourselves through the course of therapy: you have a say in the direction, the course, and the speed. And if you feel that you are somehow not allowed that right then perhaps you should discuss why that is.