Roadblocks to Effective Psychotherapy Treatment

This situation can be a turning point or a dangerous roadblock. I knew a woman who started therapy in her thirties. She had been sexually abused when she was a child and, probably as a consequence, abused drugs and alcohol. She had been in therapy about a year, making good progress from what she told me when, out of the blue, she said that she was not going to see her therapist anymore. When I asked her why, all she would say is that the therapist wasn't helping her. I offered to help her find another therapist, but she refused to even discuss the matter, and she never went back into therapy. My guess is that, far from the therapist not helping her, the therapist was helping her get close to dealing with the abuse. Unfortunately, years later, she has never gone back, and her life hasn't improved as far as alcohol and drug abuse.

These breakthroughs in therapy can be frightening, there's no question about it. It's not surprising that we shy away from them. But avoiding the situation is not going to improve things. If what you're uncovering is this painful, then it's important to examine it and get past it. It's very possible that whatever you're going to work out in therapy is what's at the root of your depression. So the best thing to do is to grit your teeth, gird your loins and work through the pain. Once you start examining the source of your fear, you'll feel more in control of it and your life in general. And that's a beautiful thing.