How Psychotherapy Works

Effective psychotherapy leads to greater awareness and understanding of our thoughts, beliefs, and motivations.  Many of us have developed some unhelpful beliefs and habits.  Frequently these are the result of childhood experiences that skewed our understanding of ourselves and of the world.  Because these habits and beliefs are deeply ingrained, yet not fully in our awareness, they can have a profound effect on our inner life and our outward actions, yet at the same time be very difficult to identify. 

 

With the help of an attuned and trustworthy guide these habits and beliefs can start to be articulated and understood.  They can then be thought about, questioned, and explicitly compared to present-day reality. This re-evaluation gradually modifies the old unhelpful thoughts and habits, which in turn frees people to think, feel, and act in reality-based and constructive ways that were previously inaccessible.