therapy

Why Can’t We Just Do Therapy On Ourselves?

July 14, 2023

Because therapy isn’t a kind of procedure, it’s a kind of relationship.

A lot of people here think this is about knowing something (like what an automatic thought is or how to do a breathing exercise) or having insight (recognizing your own motives and biases). Those people aren’t exactly wrong, but that isn’t the answer to your question.

Really, there are a certain group of people for whom self-help books work quite well, and those are the people for whom the only thing they don’t have is information. But most people don’t do well with self-help books, because they’re lacking something more than information.

How Does Therapy Actually Work?

April 20, 2023

I’m going to vastly oversimplify how it works, but:

Me: shows up to therapy as a simmering cauldron of low self-esteem and negative self-talk

Therapist: gets me to talk about these things

14 People Reveal The Most Helpful Thing A Therapist Has Ever Told Them

September 1, 2022

1. “Maybe you can treat yourself like a person and not like a project.” It changed my life. I’d been treating myself like something to fix, and seeing every little problem as evidence that I was a failure and a terrible person. I learned to give myself the same benefit of the doubt as I’d give any other human I met on the street. Humans make mistakes, including me—that doesn’t mean there’s issues to fix, it means I’m a person.

14 Therapist Reveal Unusually Common Things They Often Hear, That People Are Hesitant To Disclose

May 2, 2022

1. I work in an older adults service for people with dementia and mental health problems. I see a lot of family members/Carers feeling ashamed of the fact that they are finding it incredibly difficult to care for someone that has dementia or a chronic mental health problem.

Carer burnout is a real issue and people need to know that it’s not easy to see someone you love struggling every day, or slowly fading away month by month. Carers and family members desperately need time for themselves and need to know that it’s okay to feel the way that they do.

Picture of the Day

June 7, 2021

In France, Peyo, a 15-year-old stallion, often comes to comfort and soothe terminally ill patients at the Techer Hospital in Calais. The horse always chooses which patient he wants to see, kicking his hoof outside the door

Peyo was originally trained to take part in equestrian shows, but his handler Hassen Bouchakour began to realize his horse had a different calling. After shows, Peyo would pick people out in a crowd and stay close to them. Bouchakour later realized that he was instinctively choosing people that were sick—either physically or mentally. The trainer gave up his career as a showman and decided to embrace Peyo’s special gift in order to help those who need it. Today, Bouchakour works with a therapeutic organization called Les Sabots du Coeur (the clogs of the heart), which is conducting a study of Peyo’s extraordinary abilities.

(story)