This is a very legitimate question. After all, the commitment to a psychotherapy is a process that is often long (several weeks), expensive (especially for those who do not have insurance covering this type of expense) and demanding (the psychologist asks for a collaboration from the client and often invites them to explore painful areas of the past). So why consult?
First and foremost, because we are suffering.
The reasons for consultation described elsewhere on this Website share a common factor: they cause psychological suffering. Psychological suffering often has no known physical cause. It can be diffuse or acute. It can last a few minutes or years. It can mobilize a person to act, change their environment or change their behavior. Sometimes alone, sometimes with help ... And sometimes we turn to psychotherapy to understand and stop this suffering.
Psychotherapy helps to stem the suffering that can be experienced and regain well-being.
A second reason that can lead a person to consult is the fact of having exhausted the solutions. Each has a greater or lesser repertoire of resources when difficulties are encountered. Sometimes by action, sometimes through relations, sometimes by acceptance, we will try to "solve" the problem. And it often happens that the problems are resolved as well. But it also happens that a problem repeats itself, comes back and that the resources used in the past do not make it possible to find a satisfactory solution. For example, an inability to feel joy for months, interpersonal situations that invariably end up in the same cul-de-sac. A person can then find themselves destitute, isolated and live a great helplessness, even despair. In the face of such a stalemate, it is sometimes necessary to seek the help of a psychologist. Psychotherapy makes it possible to find a new meaning to the difficulties that one lives and to bring new solutions to the problems encountered.
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A third reason that could lead a person to consult is the desire to be understood. When one experiences difficulties or suffering, the environment is sometimes quicker to try to offer solutions than to hear, listen and understand. Or we find ourselves alone with these difficulties or this suffering. In both cases, it is the need to be recognized and validated in one's wholeness that is not met, which can create isolation or even resentment towards others. The psychologist is trained to hear the suffering of a person. Before helping find solutions, he listens and recognizes what the person is experiencing and communicates his understanding. Once understood, the client already feels less alone in their suffering. And sometimes it's the missing ingredient for a change to wellness.
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There are many other good reasons to consult a psychologist. And at the same time, there are many reasons to fear involvement in psychotherapy. In most cases, these fears have their source in the fear of being plunged back into the helplessness that we have been trying to avoid in the past. Impotence and a sense of vulnerability may seem intolerable. The psychologist understands these fears and respects them by adjusting the pace of sessions.
For other questions or to make an appointment, you can contact us from the link below.