Thank you. That was my take on it also.

My T exercises this philosophy to a certain extent. He NEVER takes this approach in terms of my trauma, etc., but if he sees me slip into the "woe is me" mode over work for instance, he'll call me on it in a second. I can choose to wallow in my misery (again talking about something relatively benign in my life as work), or I can problem-solve the situation, figure out where the issues lie, come up with possible solutions, and work my way forward. He's not going to let me get away with making my own life miserable over something as fixable as a work issue when I have so many truly serious, potentially life-changing and permanently damaging issues to work through and cope with.

It is easy to fall into the belief that you are completely powerless in ALL things after you have truly been powerless in SOME, but the reality is we have more power to control outcomes in life than we are often able to even recognize. I, for one, am eternally grateful for a therapist who has taught me that I am much more powerful than I give myself credit for. If he sat back and just let me complain without pushing me toward solutions when solutions are realistic, I would be stuck. I'm done being stuck, at least where I have real options.

This article isn't addressing complex, traumatic issues. We sometimes forget here that probably most people are actually not in therapy long-term for such complicated trauma issues. A large portion of therapy is conducted short-term for more typical issues such as marriage/family conflict, work issues, goal setting, short-term depression or anxiety, etc. As much as we'd like to think we are the rule here, I suspect most of us are the exception.