Adam Jacobson

WHY DO PEOPLE SEEK THERAPY? The short and clinical answer is that therapy is an effective way to respond to the difficulties in ones life. The less clinical answer is that the pain and anxiety people experience in their lives is all too real and all too constant. As a result, people sometimes come to feel that talking to an expert outside of their circle would help. Sometimes people come to therapy because a distressing experience or crisis has occurred. At these times the call to talk is urgent. At other times the process that leads to calling a therapist is a more gradual awareness that one is not feeling good about themselves and/or their life. For example, one might wake up one day feeling nervous and uncertain for yet another consecutive day and say to themselves, �I am completely sick of this feeling of anxiety and tired of constantly worrying about disappointing others. I am tired of eating and drinking to distract myself. I am tired of worrying about seemingly trivial things. I need to talk to someone.� In another scenario they might ask, �Why do my relationships leave me unfulfilled and bored after only a few months while my friends seem so happy? Why can�t I meet somebody decent?� Feeling alone in dealing these tough kinds of issues can be very difficult. In such situations bringing a therapist into the picture for help is an understandable response and not uncommon. WHAT IS THERAPY? One way describe therapy is that it is simply a conversation centered specifically your life. It is different from talking to family or friends because the historical complications that can accompany talking with family and friends are removed. Of course the image that people carry of therapy may be different from what I just described and may be more specific as well. For some the image of therapy is lying on a couch while their analyst makes occasional comments about their free associations. For others the therapist is very active with lots of comments, advice, and direction. Which is the correct method? Is something else the right way? My belief is that it depends on what is best for each patient because everyone is different and therefore has different needs. It�s true that I have a style and don�t just become some new therapist with each given session. Rather, what I am saying is that I take what each person�s experiences have been and where they come from into major consideration when working with each person. Consider that I don�t talk to my fifteen year old patients exactly the way I speak to my fifty year old patients. Imposing some pre-existing template onto a person neglects who they are. This is ineffective at best and injurious in its insensitivity at worst. As a result, meeting a therapist and talking to see if there is compatibility is what I recommend. This simply helps to establish whether a second conversation is a good idea.