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.