[WinterRose]

OK - So this is probably so obvious it should be obvious, but thought I'd see what people say. My pdoc has challeneged me to define what therapy is - what therapists do - and what we're trying to accomplish in therapy. (He loves to challenge me and I always bite. I appreciate that he questions everything because it makes me have to think for myself.) He said that some study said that just talking to a good intimate friend weekly has the same results as therapy. I think that could be true in some cases depending on the need. What is it about therapy that takes it beyond that though. I found that I couldn't immediately answer him, but this is what I eventually came up with.

Some of my thoughts:
What does a therapist do? They assist you in recognizing behaviors and thoughts that no longer serve you and assist you in replacing them with better alternatives. They call your attention to what you do and assist you in becoming consciously aware of it so you can choose to act instead of being acted upon. They guide you in building a life better suited to yourself. They assist you in coping with things. They support you so you can grow. They provide a safe atmosphere where you can experiment and relearn and recover. They assist you in seeing yourself. They call you on your stuff and hold you accountable in an appropriate way. Yes, this can sometimes be done by someone other than a therapist – but in day to day life it is uncommon to find someone willing to put that much time into another person and who is that concerned with another’s welfare. And it is uncommon to be able to spend that kind of intensive time with someone regularly and consistently enough in a focused way. It is not a casual thing and it requires trust. So we pay someone to act as our proxy, someone who we hope can see more clearly than ourselves and open our understanding. Someone who can help us heal past wounds because they have been through the same and have experience we do not. Someone who has a game plan and will encourage us to make the changes we want to make when our courage fails us.

How would you define it? What would you say?

[MissCharlotte]

Winter,
For me, therapy is a time and place where I can travel within and find my true self, whom I lost somewhere along the way. My therapist provides a reflection of what I am putting out there and don't notice. He helps me to clarify my thinking, supports me during crisis, nudges me in the right direction when I veer off course and provides analysis of my unconscious dreams. But most of all he listens. What we are trying to accomplish in therapy is to develop a relationship where I feel safe enough to take the risks I need to get well and whole, facing all of those things about me that I don't want to face. The relationship is always developing and the work is always changing.

[WinterRose]

I like that Sister. Thanks.

[Becca07]

For me, I think therapy is about having a guide to help get through the difficulties life throws at you. Not just to listen, but to point out things that you wouldn't have thought of on your own.

Becca

[withit]

I like that question, it's not dumb at all.
For me, therapy is a trusting relationship within which I feel safe to be me, pathology and all, and have a corrective emotional experience; a context within which I can explore and process my thoughts/feelings with a person who is capable of being present as I do so. For me, the TRUSTING relationship is in and of itself healing. In addition, the trusting relationship lends itself to the playing out and working through of transference issues, which, when done successfully with a competent and skilled therapist results in catharsis and relief of the symptoms which have brought us into therapy.
Therapy is a place where I can shed my old useless skin and grow a new one,
oh I feel like penning a poem about what therapy is for me, but I gotta go now...