1 August 2012

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You Are Not Weak

One of the quiet, yet pernicious, ways which serve to steer people away from seeking the assistance that psychotherapy can bring is the idea that, somehow, seeking assistance is a sign of weakness.

I think part of this comes from movies and TV (though their depictions are getting better), which have historically portrayed individuals seeking therapeutic help as hopelessly neurotic.

Let me be frank: anyone seeking the help of a therapist soon discovers that the opposite is true. Seeking increased self-awareness (an inevitable part of psychotherapy) is an act of will. It is you, saying that you can feel better, be better. It is saying that you deserve to understand yourself better than you currently do. It is to say that keeping things the way they are is not good enough.

Self-improvement is not the admission of weakness of character, but the admission of strength of mind.