Psychotherapy: A Journey Towards Self-Awareness

We live in the age of information. Knowledge is widespread, and we never knew so much about the world we live in. However, it’s striking that as much as we know about our world, the mind still remains a mystery to many. It seems easier to understand nature than to know what goes on in our internal world.

We can sometimes be lost for words when it comes to explaining certain actions, behaviours or feelings. The mind is a vast territory for exploration, one that

doesn’t necessarily follow the same rules and logics of the external world. For instance, sometimes the way we feel, think or relate to one another can be detrimental and damaging, which seems hard to explain. Why would we do something to harm our loved ones or ourselves? The mind seems to create its own issues.

This is why self-awareness is so important. Knowing about what goes on in the mind can help us understand ourselves and learn from experience, taking control of our lives rather than leaving ourselves to the mercy of our desires, impulses and defenses. There are many ways of working towards self-awareness. Psychotherapy is one of them. It provides not only the knowledge of the mind, but also the safe environment to experience with the therapist the many dynamics that happen when we relate to one another, as well as the determining and derived feelings.

The missing links

Sometimes when we experience painful circumstances in life, or when we face feelings, desires or thoughts we can’t bear to have in mind, we may try to push them away or ignore them as much as we can, in an attempt to protect ourselves. We often know when we are doing this, but sometimes an experience can be pushed so far away from the mind that we may lose track of it. This brings a problem, as difficult feelings or thoughts can then crop up without an apparent reason. It also comes back to ‘haunt’ us when we relate to one another, as we can sometimes see these unwanted aspects of ourselves in others, feeling then harassed by it.

This points to a striking dynamic that happens in our internal world: as we try to protect ourselves by getting rid of undesired aspects of the mind, we may lock ourselves into a pattern of trying to work through these painful feelings or experiences by repetition (be it in feelings or in the relationships), but most likely failing to do so, rendering us to feel stuck and hopeless. In this sense, there is no running away from unresolved conflicts in the mind, as it will tend to come back in different forms: dysfunctional relationships, disturbing feelings or crippling symptoms.

How can psychotherapy help?

Psychotherapy works in the sense of finding the missing links between experiences and feelings, be they in the past or in the present. The psychotherapist will help the person to integrate and face the undesired aspects of the mind that may be scattered in the patterns and experiences in life, finding the meaning underneath disturbing feelings and symptoms (e.g depression, OCD, anxiety). This will help to put a stop into unhealthy patterns in regards to feelings and relationships. Repressed or projected feelings will find relief through thinking and understanding the difficulties with the help of the psychotherapist.

It can be painful to confront what has been avoided for so long, but it is also liberating. The journey towards self-knowledge can’t be taken without facing painful feelings. However, psychotherapy in London EC1 can provide a safe environment where the person will be able to develop and change with the help of someone who is qualified and experienced to help discover what goes on in the mind, in the internal world.

Psychotherapy in London EC1 will help the patient to link up their experiences and feelings, to discover the meaning underneath their suffering and to achieve a level of self-awareness that will stay with them for a long time. Psychotherapy will help the person acquire the tools necessary to cope with what life throws in the way, without resorting to old defensives ways of avoiding or ignoring experiences, in the risk of being caught up in patterns.

Psychotherapy can be a life-changing process, an invaluable experience. So if stuck in difficult cycles in life, or unsure of why you feel certain things, know that help is available and self-awareness can be a way out.