Individual therapy is one option for people who are struggling with their mental health and are seeking a long-term solution that is customized to them. Some people wait until a negative event occurs in their lives to deal with the fallout, but this method is akin to putting a bandage on a wound that needs stitches—it does not address the problem for good.
The more effective method is to get ahead of problems, both by developing skills to avoid them when possible and by cultivating practices to more competently handle them when they do arise, before they cause fallout at all.
This is the role that individual therapy can play in your life, whether you are facing anxiety and depression, past trauma, or learned behaviors that are causing you trouble.
Let’s explore the transformative power of reshaping lives, uncovering personal narratives of healing, growth, and self-discovery, and illustrating the profound impact of therapeutic interventions in fostering resilience, empowering you to thrive and live authentically.
The Role of Self-Discovery
One of the cornerstones of therapy is the way in which a therapist seeks to equip patients with the power of self-discovery. Over time, through conversations, activities, and other strategies that the therapist will customize, each individual will begin to gain a clearer picture of how they work.
This includes what motivates them, which events have significantly impacted them and how, why they think what they think, and more. This self-discovery journey is essential for healing and growth.
Without it, you cannot hit the core of what is driving your behaviors, which means you will likely struggle to learn the behaviors you want and may continue to engage in routines that are not serving you. However, it can be difficult to discover these connections and overarching influences on your own.
Cultivating Mindfulness and Awareness
Once a person has gained some insight into themselves and why they do what they do, they have solid footing to begin developing mindfulness. Mindfulness describes the process of becoming more aware of oneself, including what you are feeling and what sorts of actions you want to take before you do them.
For example, suppose that you are driving to work, and a vehicle swerves in front of you to cut you off in traffic. As a result, you have to wait through the longest traffic light in your trip, while they get to continue on. If you are a person struggling with their anger response, you may lash out, shout, and even drive more hazardously due to being upset in this situation.
However, those who grasp mindfulness are able to look inward—am I feeling angry at that person’s behavior, frustrated that I have to wait, or something else? Why? Is this anger accomplishing something for me? Could that person be having an emergency that I do not understand?
By more accurately labeling one’s internal state, addressing it in a more effective manner becomes the next step.
Creating Alternative Habits
Another transformational aspect of individual therapy is how it equips a person with real, tangible life skills that can improve how they live and help them accomplish their goals.
Suppose that you suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. In individual therapy, your therapist has been able to help you see that you have a tendency to catastrophize—to see the worst outcome without considering other possibilities.
Your therapist might work with you to find a skill or hobby, such as journaling, that is effective for you, then train this into an alternative habit. Next time you begin to panic about doing something stressful (say, giving a presentation), you can enact the skills you learned in therapy. You might:
- Pause for 10 minutes to gather your journaling supplies
- Write down your thought process
- Write down a graph or chart of other possible outcomes; how can this situation go well?
- Circle events in your graph that you consider to be unrealistic; it is “possible” that a tornado will strike the building before you get there, canceling the presentation, but it is unlikely
This journaling practice can reveal that many of your underlying fears and assumptions are, at their core, unrealistic.
This process can help to calm your limbic system, which is in charge of the fight or flight response, easing your anxiety and making you more confident about what you have to do.
Journaling is just one of many potential life skills and habits your therapist can help you cultivate to transform your life and gain control.
Let Village Counseling Transform Your Life
Individual therapy is a customized process that is tailored to each person’s unique challenges, needs, and preferences. By developing mindfulness and cultivating effective life skills that you can apply in a wide range of situations, you can take charge of your life and find success.
The experts at Village Counseling are always excited to see our patients succeed, and we are proud to play a role in their individual therapy success. Contact Village Counseling to schedule an individual therapy appointment.