Inside the consulting room...

Very often the fear of starting therapy can be greater than the experience itself.  Partly of course it's the fear of the unknown; the stranger you'll be meeting with and the unfamiliar room and setting.  For some it can also be the fear that the therapist might see something in you that you've been desperately trying to hide for so long or perhaps the fear that you'll start to speak and won't be able to stop...  

Therapy is about looking at difficult things. People come because these difficult things mean they feel they can no longer function in the way they want to but importantly it's about doing this at the right pace and depth for you.

Whilst every experience of therapy is unique finding the right therapist for you is important.  One that you feel, over time, that you'll be able to trust and share your intimate thoughts with.

Recently, I've been listening to https://www.estherperel.com/podcast which I think gives a good insight into the work in the consulting room.  Ester Perel is a Belgium psychotherapist working in New York.  Her work is focused on couples and what she terms 'erotic intelligence'.  Whilst these podcasts are for only one session and so different to longer term work it provides a window into the work.  

If you're interested in other descriptions of client work, 'Love's Executioner' by Dr I. Yalom, another American therapist, https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/190926/love-s-executioner/ offers an insight into individual work in ten very readable chapters, 'I'm not my shoes' is a very helpful learning for us all. 

Recognising that you need help, and then asking for it, is hard but continuing to use strategies and approaches that are not working means that you run the risk that you are no longer able to function well and perhaps the very things that used to be helpful are now preventing you from achieving your potential in life, relationships, at work and as a parent.