Misconceptions About the Therapy Process
Some may be held back by false notions about the therapy process, says Tina Tessina, PhD, a licensed psychotherapist based in Long Beach, Calif. “People come into my counseling office looking so scared, as if I’m going to put thumbscrews on them,” she says. One element of their fear is a phenomenon she calls “autophobia,” literally, “fear of self.”
Tessina says people are afraid of their own emotions, and of what might happen if they acknowledge them. They think, “If I ever start crying, I’ll never stop. If I let myself really express my anger, I’ll do real damage,” she says.
Tessina says some people also fear being told they’re “crazy.” Patricia A. Farrell, PhD, a licensed psychologist and author, says they may even worry about involuntary confinement. “They think, ‘If I tell anybody that I have this panic disorder or I’m depressed, they’ll think I’m crazy and they’ll put me in a hospital.’” In fact, says Farrell, people are confined against their will only in extreme cases. One effect of managed care has been to make therapy as short, nondisruptive and efficient as possible.
Farrell says patients also might have fears about the therapy sessions themselves. Typical therapy in an EAP, for example, isn’t a deep, uncomfortable probe into childhood traumas and inner thoughts. It’s more like a short series of problem-solving sessions, focused on particular behaviors or thought patterns and learning techniques to change them. “A lot of therapy is two people working together for the best outcome for that individual,” she says. “It’s more like learning how to do things a little better. . . You go out and you try something and you come back to discuss it.”
This type of therapy works well on problems that haven’t yet become job- or life-threatening crises. All the more reason to seek help early and nip trouble in the bud.
The Dangers of Waiting
“Usually by the time something is noticeable at work so that management says you have to go in and do something about it, it’s usually pretty bad,” says Tessina. Farrell says it’s time to get help “when something is causing disruption in your life on an almost daily basis . . . and it seems to have gone on for a couple of weeks.”
And with suicide, the risk of not getting help in time is far worse than a lost job or relationship. Farrell says planning for suicide is a red alert. Any time a person starts hoarding medication or thinking about a suicidal act in other concrete terms, “you better have an immediate plan to get help.”
Telling another person about your problem is the necessary first step to solving it, and maybe even saving your life.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Jan 2008
