9 Embarrassing Questions You ’ve Always Wanted to Ask a Therapist

Therapy is a touchy subject. Lots of people think they’re probably fine but are not sure, while others want to talk to someone about their problems but don’t really know if therapy would work. We asked Lori Gottlieb, therapist and author of the new book Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, to answer some common — and sometimes uncomfortable — questions about counseling. Does everyone need therapy? Lori Gottlieb: I don’t think everyone needs to do therapy. I think that pretty much everyone can benefit from therapy. For people who are motivated to change, are curious about themselves and maybe want to see what trips them up in ways that they don’t realize, I think it can be incredibly useful. We change in relation to others. It’s very hard to change in isolation. In therapy you get that on steroids because the therapist is holding up a mirror to you and saying, “Look at your reflection. I want you to see the ways that you might be shooting yourself in the foot and ending up in the same place over and over.” You can’t do that if another person isn’t there to observe you and then to very gently help you see that observation. Sometimes I’ll have some people do an exercise. They have to write down everything they say to themselves, the critical voice in their head. And even though they know that they can be critical, they don’t realize the extent of it. They’re embarrassed to read it back to me. The ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Mental Health/Psychology Source Type: news