Many of us living with addiction and mental illness who have tried therapy in the past are resistant to trying again because we had a negative experience or didn’t feel as though it was helpful for us. We assume that our past experiences will predict our future ones, and we become convinced that nothing can help us heal, not even therapy. We become mistrustful of therapists, especially if the therapist we worked with wasn’t helpful to us or we were unhappy with their care. We’re resistant to therapy and often reject the idea altogether. Can therapy help us?
Resistance to Therapy
When we’re resistant to therapy, we can put up energetic blocks against it which can keep it from helping us. If we’ve had a past experience with therapy that wasn’t helpful or productive, we want to try and have an open mind moving forward, so that our new experience doesn’t reflect our old one. One of the most important elements of a successful therapy experience is finding a therapist with whom we connect, who we feel we can trust, who we can open up to and confide in. When we don’t have healthy communication and trust with our therapist, our whole working relationship can suffer. We want to find the best possible fit for us, a therapist who is an energetic match for us and who works with us in ways that are helpful to us. Our past experiences with therapy don’t have to predict our future ones. We can find a therapist who is well suited to us and our needs. We can find someone we feel even more comfortable and open with.
Resistance to Self-Reflection
Sometimes our experiences with therapy aren’t helpful because we have yet to uncover deeply rooted issues that are at the center of our struggles with addiction and mental illness. These issues take time to unearth and examine, and if we quit therapy prematurely, if we were avoiding the issues that were most sensitive for us, or if we weren’t open to deep personal examination, we can find that therapy didn’t help us heal as much as we would have liked. Many of us are resistant to self-reflection, particularly with a therapist, because it can be scary to be so vulnerable with our difficult emotions and life issues. Moving forward, though, we can be even more mindful of working with these underlying, often hidden, issues. We can be intentional about our work with a therapist and try to maximize our time together. We can keep in mind that we want to explore our inner selves fully, and not hold back important information from our therapists.
At The Guest House Ocala, our experience with addiction and recovery makes us uniquely poised to be able to understand the struggles you’re experiencing.
We’re here to help.
Call 855-483-7800 today for more information on our treatment programs.
theguesthouseocala.com
3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488