“Take the backward step and turn the light inward.”
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
This work is a collaborative effort in which client and therapist work together to identify and express what is distressing to the client and what sort of change is desired. A crucial aspect of this process is the client’s willingness to say everything that comes to mind. This process of putting words to your thoughts and emotions can help reveal the shape of your inner space, the nature of your struggles, and, ultimately, the patterns (behaviors, thoughts, relationships) that may be contributing to your suffering. By translating these aspects of self into language, you may get enough distance from them in order to see them clearly and regain some agency in how to relate to them. From this vantage point, acceptance and transformation, guided by your values and goals, is possible.
“A principle of psychodynamic thinking is that we don’t really know ourselves. Because of a variety of conflicts, prohibitions, anxieties, and defenses, we tend to deceive ourselves and the task of the psychodynamic therapist is to pursue the patient’s true self.”
The Process
At times, therapy becomes the art of reading the text of your life - getting to know the characters (both inner and outer), glimpsing themes, appreciating the flow of action, and, ultimately, taking up the telling of the story yourself, steering it in the direction of your goals, your values, or simply towards whatever is most meaningful or aesthetically pleasing to you. At other times, therapy can be like listening to an extended musical piece. We notice harmonies, dissonance, silence, and tension, responding accordingly with an ear towards improvisation, resolution, and beauty. Ultimately, therapy offers the opportunity to pause, to slow things down, to look around, to become intimate with the contours of your life, and to speak freely within the unique container of the therapeutic relationship to see what arises when what’s inside is let outside.
“As they become known and accepted to ourselves, our feelings, and the honest exploration of them, become sanctuaries and fortresses and spawning grounds for the most radical and daring of ideas, the house of difference so necessary to change and the conceptualization of any meaningful action.”
Learning to Turn the Light Within
Sometimes people need practical help with learning to slow down, look inside, and express what they see, hear, and feel. In that case, we might start with an exploration of mindfulness to provide a receptive framework through which to engage the rest of the introspective process. Mindfulness comes from the pali word sati, which can also be translated as “to remember to observe.” From this perspective, mindfulness becomes the continuous practice of remembering to see what is here - of seeing the nature of our situation and the causes and conditions that led to its arising. This perspective can lead to greater freedom, understanding, and compassion, three integral aspects of the path towards healing.