This is designed to tell you a little about what psychotherapy is and what happens in psychotherapy. Your therapist will be happy to explain anything you do not understand. Just ask. Firstly, it is important to realise that psychotherapy is different from counselling. Many people expect to tell the therapist about his or her problem and that then the therapist will give advice which will solve everything just like that. This is not true; it just does not work like that. Before you came to therapy, you may have gotten advice from all kinds of people: your spouse, your parents, your friends, your family doctor, and so on. Many of these people know you quite well; some of them know you very well, and if it were just a question of getting advice there is no reason to think that your therapist would be much better at it than all of the people who have always told you what to do. Unfortunately, when some people give advice, they usually provide solutions that will work for themselves, but not for the person who has the problem. If all of the advice you have received had helped, the odds are that you would not be in therapy. The therapist wants to work with you in trying to explore and understand your difficulties and concerns.
What does this mean?
Well, if your therapist sees you getting into some kind of trouble, he or she may warn you about it, but here again the final decision as to what to do will have to be made by you. The great advantage you will have with your therapist is that he or she has no axe to grind. The therapist does not think he or she knows what is best for you, but is going to help you try to find out. The therapist does not think that he or she knows the answers, but rather, he or she just wants to understand, with you, why you do things. The other point is that the ethical rules and standards of their profession bind your therapist. Your therapist will treat everything you say with respect and will ensure complete confidentiality.
