Demystifying Therapy - Video Transcript

Hey guys, I'm Kristen, the anxiety therapist, thanks for checking out my vlog this week um today I'm going to be demystifying psychotherapy for you. I think there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to um psychotherapy or therapy, they're kind of used interchangeably. Um and you know with those misconceptions it's it's sort of perpetuates the stigma surrounding therapy in general.

So I just want to go over some of the benefits and some of the misconceptions to help clear things up for you guys. So for starters, a lot of people will seek out a therapist if they are experiencing some sort of emotional identity or relationship crisis however that you absolutely do not need to be in crisis in order to seek out a therapist, right that that crisis might just be the catalyst.

Um that sort of propels you forward to to actually make the call. Um but there are a lot of people who seek out therapists who are just going through a life transition, so maybe they just became apparent for the first time, maybe they had a big move, maybe they're changing jobs, you know, all of these things.

While objectively speaking are positive changes. Change comes with uncertainty and uncertainty leads to a lot of anxiety and so big life transitions and changes can be difficult for people to sort of navigate. Another reason people seek out therapy is if they're experiencing feelings of being stuck nous so maybe whether it's emotionally or behaviorally maybe there are some habits or patterns um that you're continually engaging in. You're just they're maybe not the most productive or not the healthiest, but you just can't seem to break the cycle. Um or maybe there are some emotions that you know just keep coming up for you and um you're finding it hard to figure out how to navigate those or to not feel that way anymore.

Um so what that leads to, you know, if you engage in the process of therapy, it really leads to a deeper relationship and connection with yourself and helps you gain um self-awareness and insight and to why you do the things you do, you know what it is? All behavior is motivated by something and so we really explore that and figure out why that is and kind of address that.

Um and so this leads to some pretty fundamental life changes, you know, it's not just like oh I want to stop drinking coffee, so I need to change this habit, but you're really exploring like what leads you to make certain decisions or to feel a particular way or to um to engage in certain behaviors that are either productive or destructive.

You know, it doesn't, it's not always negative. So this tends to work with some sort of deeply ingrained patterns. So let's say you have, you know, you've had several relationships that just kind of continue to fall apart and you're wondering why this is happening, right? You're getting frustrated and um you just can't seem to find the right person for you.

So, treatment will help to make sense of what's going on there. So we kind of look at your patterns, your approach to relationships, um your communication, um the way you relate to others, you know, it's, it's sort of a deep dive into um how you are in a relationship and that goes for anything really, not, not just relationships, but um any sort of ingrained pattern that that you tend to see in your life.

So some of the misconceptions are that therapy is only suitable for someone with a mental health issue or a psychiatric diagnosis and that is not at all true. Um I think our medical system, just the way it's set up in our country makes it seem like that, because oftentimes, if you want to use insurance to pay for therapy, they do require a diagnosis, um but that you you don't need an actual diagnosis in order to engage in therapy. In fact, most of my clients don't have a diagnosis at all, and I wouldn't consider them mentally ill or have major mental health concerns.

Um and it's also important to remember that that emotional distress kind of exists on a spectrum. So you can be extremely emotionally distressed to the point at which you are sort of debilitated and can't function on your own and then you can be extremely high functioning and experience emotional distress that hasn't really been dealt with for several years and so has accumulated um to a point at which you feel like you might need to seek out some additional support.

Um and lastly, I i just want to clarify that psychotherapy is a relationship. A lot of people think that either they come and you know, I'm going to tell them what to do, I'm going to give them advice and that is not my role whatsoever. Um if you want that, then I would say go see a life coach.

Um and other people think that all I do is just like sit here silently and listen and that's not at all. It either. Um while active listening is definitely part of my skill set. I do provide a ton of feedback to my clients. I know not all therapists do this, but I really provide a lot of feedback I asked very um kind of thought-provoking questions to allow the clients to really reflect on their own experiences and then we process through that together.

So it's a very collaborative process, excuse me, I'm fighting this cold that's going around. Um it's a very collaborative process to reach very specific goals. And one of the benefits that come out of therapy is that people tend to, excuse me stop being afraid of experiencing their feelings and they stop being afraid of sort of what's going on for them internally, which is something I see when clients come to me a lot is there's a lot of avoidance of feelings right, doing anything we can to sort of avoid those feelings of anxiety or what is coming up for us.

So we really focus on that as well as just being more accepting of our emotions. So I hope you found this helpful. Um you know that's one reason I do a consultation with new clients is to make sure that we are a good fit because it is a relationship and we will be collaborating and working together and excuse me holy cow.

And we need to make sure that that's going to be productive and that the client feels safe and supported and comfortable with me. So anyway feel free to um you know leave a comment with any questions or even schedule a consultation if you want to see if um you know maybe we would be a good fit to work together and I hope everybody has a good weekend and a happy mother's day and I'll see you next week.

Take care.