Recently, my attention was drawn to the subject of faith in therapy.
It’s considered in most modes of therapeutic practice that the therapist is the expert in the room – It’s their job to listen to you, and help you to change the way you think or feel about a particular issue of concern. Luckily for you, they’re expert in analysing you, and interpreting your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours – that way they can tell you what’s wrong with you, and help you manage it, right?
For the therapist, it can be satisfying to have solved your problem – naturally, it’s what they do. Therapists are generally good people, they work hard to try and make people better. They take a certain pride and satisfaction in their professional prowess.
But what if they’re wrong?
Because often, they are.
This is the fundamental difficulty with normative therapies – they rely upon the interpretation and judgment of the actual therapist, whom the client naturally views as expert, and therein places their faith – faith in their opinions, and faith in their assertions…
…faith in a new reality, that may not be true.
Faith is the operative word here, because to have faith in your therapist and their therapy, you must believe what they tell you – because on some level you have to validate and accept what you are being told, yes?
I’ve helped many clients who’ve literally walked away from therapists because the interpretations and judgments they’ve received have simply been wrong and unacceptable, and the person has just lost faith. Sometimes, being failed so heavily leads people to lose faith in therapeutic help altogether. They become hopeless.
You see, people aren’t stupid, and they easily recognise when a therapist makes an incorrect and judgmental indication about them, their case, their personality, their thoughts, or their realities. Sometimes though, a person’s condition can leave them so disempowered that they all too readily accept the views and opinions of their therapist without hesitation, which is another area of concern, and perhaps a topic for another day.
TIR – A Different Way Forward
Reflecting on years of facilitating Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) for hundreds of people, I know that my skill and expertise doesn’t sit with an ability to interpret my client’s case. It sits simply with my ability to remain 100% person centred, 100% of the time, and being able to accept and validate a person’s realities, whatever they may be – without judgment, without criticism, without violation, and without introducing any new opinions for the client to worry about.
This is the beauty of TIR, and why so many people love the experience of working with me. You see, TIR is incredibly effective for handling trauma, and yet there is no interpretation, analysis or judgment.
It’s this approach that enables me to help people experience recovery from PTSD, and experience growth.
If you’re interested and would like more information about TIR, please contact us using the form below.
