‘Therapy’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 18

Depression is the most isolating thing. It seems as though there were an invisible sheet of glass between you and other people. This sheet of glass comes, in fact, between you and the world itself, between you and your own experience. Everything is covered in a kind of fog, everything is wrong, tasteless, dull, not as it should be, an insurmountable task, a deep pointlessness.

The lesson that it is facilitative not to press others to disclose, and to communicate that lack of pressure explicitly, is a useful one in all kinds of relationships; mothers persistently asking their children to tell them what happened at school springs to mind, as does the situation in which the stereotypical wife ‘asks the husband to talk about his feelings’.

Why is it that if a fascinating or difficult client comes along and the counsellor spends an entire supervision session, or most of it, working out how to proceed, this client invariably never comes back? Is this the widely known and surely scientifically proven by now ‘Sod’s Law’? Or is it just me?

While reading the wonderful change therapy blog today, I stumbled upon the UN definition of wellness: “Wellness is not only the absence of illness but also the sense of total physical and mental well-being.” This makes me wonder…is this definition adequate, or relevant, and is a sense of wellness the end goal of therapy?

I’m filing this under mindful awareness, which seems like an exalted term for going to bed when you’re tired. But it sometimes seems like such hard work to keep aware on a simple and basic level. The thoughts suck me in and go at a million miles an hour. It’s thrilling, terrifying, creates adrenaline — which is what I think I need in order to get things done.