I have tried all morning to record a video debunking various preconceptions many people have around therapy, before realising that it couldn’t really be covered in one 3 minute reel! So, here are a few top concerns people may have about embarking on therapy, with responses from an SFH angle:
- It will take forever and will be really expensive. Therapy is not a cheap process, that is true, but it becomes even pricier when you embark on a journey with no end point, no measurable goal and no tools to help you navigate life going forward. More traditional therapists can see their clients for years. This may of course be absolutely what those clients want and need, but this is not what SFH is all about. I want you to feel better and to think better, so that you don’t need to see me any more. Most clients feel a shift in as few as 6 sessions, many are ready to fly solo after 12, for others it may take a bit longer or they have occasional top-ups to keep them on the right track. I encourage you to start finding the good stuff in life right away, and by the end of the process you will be able to walk yourself through the process we use together to keep your mind in a good place and working for you rather than against you.
- It will be horrible. As human beings, we like to understand things, but there is a world of difference between understanding the neuroscience behind why we feel a certain way – which we can work with – and picking apart traumatic past events in the hope of finding meaning or resolution. My own experience of therapy was that it left me feeling raw and vulnerable and I ended up dreading each session as I knew it would be extremely difficult. My clients look forward to our appointments and always leave feeling better. That’s because I don’t allow them to relive their problems in session: doing that only floods their system with stress hormones and anxiety and makes it impossible to see a way out. Clients may feel a discomfort with a new way of thinking but this is not surprising if we have been focussing on our problems for years and are then asked to put them to one side and start imagining how life could be different.
- I won’t know what to say. SFH sessions are structured and I will show you the way. That doesn’t mean that they are boring or repetitive – quite the opposite! They are fun, creative and relaxed. The structure is there to get your brain working at its most positive, which means that you get the most out of our time together.
- I’ll be given homework. True. But the homework I will give you is listening to the trance recording every night before you go to sleep – which will make you sleep even better – and making a note of the good stuff (however small) that happens to you between sessions – which in turn will make you feel good. The more you can get on board with this, the quicker you’ll feel a shift.