Opening up

Many clients fear that if they start to talk about the things that they have kept bottled up, kept behind closed doors for all this time, that they will open flood gates that they will never again be able to close.

I always try to reassure people that the decades, or however long of experience they have of keeping a lock on such things, is in fact a coping mechanism (not always a healthy one, but a way of coping nonetheless) and one which they will be able to fall back on until a more healthy way of coping is developed.

Try to think of it as water building up behind a dam;

it is only by letting it out a bit at a time that tha dam is not always under pressure.

A better metaphor might be that of Pandora's box (or jar) :

People are often afraid that they will open Pandora's box and release all of their demons into the world, but in mythology it was hope that Pandora saved.

Therapy is very much the same; you don't unleash all of your evils into the world; you let go of them, a little at a time and what's left is hope, and a place to put yourself, and your inner world back together in a way that lets you rebuild so that it works for you.

Phone or text us on 07765 224564 when you are ready