What are some good examples of art therapy?
George had been my neighbor until he went to the care center, where I visited him every week. They had an art therapist named Sally there. She invited me to participate in a class.
How do you learn to love yourself when you grew up in a dysfunctional family?
Love is not a passing feeling or emotion, like loving a movie or a dessert. It’s a behavior. We don’t have a lot of control over our feelings. We can control our behavior based on choices and promises.
Is therapy supposed to be this incredibly important relationship that shapes the rest of your life, or is it actually not that deep?
Both, or either one. It can be an incredibly important relationship if you have a lot to reframe and repair, or not as deep when you just need help stopping smoking or deciding whether to retire now, etc.
How do therapists help depressed clients who struggle to engage because everything is bad and nothing is ever enough?
The client showed up for therapy. That is huge. They keep coming. That is more huge. I’d say the client has engaged, plenty.
Still, they keep saying everything is bad and nothing will ever be enough?
OK. Then that’s where we start, supporting the client as they find ways of expressing it fully and in different ways, all the feelings and the thoughts.
How is attachment to my therapist a sign of healing when it hurts more than my original pain?
Ah, the pain thing. Therapy can be painful and often is. You’re letting go of some of the maladaptive defenses, and the avoiding, and the self-kidding that cushioned you from pain but stopped your growth. That hurts.