Yeah, I think the notion is that they will evolve and develop as we acknowledge them and allow ourself to feel them and start to accept them instead of pushing them away / fighting them :-) Progress can seem slow at times, but then by the same token, sometimes I don't think we often reflect on and appreciate just how far we have come :-)

I have these worries about exploratory being somehow superior to supportive, as well. This worry that if we are doing supportive stuff then it is a kind of 'maintenence' going from problem to problem to problem getting through... Not really making substantive changes or making any real progress. I think that some therapists have this conception, too. In a way, the polar opposite of the 'exploratory is best' view (of SOME analysts) is the 'changing your action is EVERYTHING' view (of SOME behaviour / cognitive-behaviour therapists). I expect... The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I've seen a lot written in recent years about how there is a continuum between 'supportive' and 'exploratory' and about how often it can be super-hard to characterise / describe what is going on. For example... Sometimes it might seem (to a therapist and to a client) that they are doing supportive stuff, really. But then some insight comes out of it. So... Seems that it is exploratory, after all. And sometimes it can seem like exploratory work is being done where the person is talking about the past and trying to emotionally relate to it. Achieving important insights. And yet the insights don't seem to result in any behavioural change. One might wonder if that is 'supportive' therapy disguised as exploratory, really.

One notion is that the 'supportive' / 'exploratory' distinction is about as useful as the 'neurotic' / 'psychotic' distinction - which turned out to not be so useful really. There are many aspects to neurosis, and many aspects to supportive, and it can be hard to characterise the distinction...

One idea is that... Supportive is non-confrontational whereas exploratory involves the therapist confronting the client with their behaviour. This has led some theorists to characterize 'self-psychology' as supportive rather than exploratory analysis - even when it is 5 times a week, free association and couch work. Confrontations... Tend to alienate the person. Support... Tends to give clients the strength to come to important insights.

I think it is a paradoxical thing. Like how (when meditating) if you try and think of nothing then things will keep on distracting you. If you think of one thing and focus all your attention on that one thing then that one thing becomes all emcompassing so as to be... Nothing, however. Like how if you seek happiness directly it will elude you. If you stop seeking and just be in the present then there it is. If you seek insights then maybe the best way to get those is to enjoy some support and care. Other peoples support and care of you and your increasing ability to support and care for yourself...

Perhaps.

> Shame runs so so deep. I keep saying I want to leave it outside the door when I go in. Wishful thinking I suppose.

Shame is the hardest thing for me too. Though.. I have been looking at anger a little bit too.

My therapy has moved focus now to acceptance. My acceptance of myself... Supportive... But deep... I thought I was basically accepting of myself (that I'd grown considerably there) and I have grown considerably. But... I still have a long way to go. There is no way that I can achieve insights of things when I can't accept them (without being mortified by them) when they occur to me...

Life can be hard sometimes...