Through psychological treatment, your perception of yourself and the world can develop. It can become more realistic, precise, and even more flexible. This can change your self-perception so that you feel better and can act more purposefully and effectively.
When you gain insight into the issues and challenges you face, you can increase your control over yourself and the situations you find yourself in. You will also be able to make more authentic choices, moving towards becoming more of who you truly want to be.
For the vast majority of people, gaining an overview of their situation and being able to take control of their lives represents a real and tangible improvement. This, in turn, can reduce stress and other mental health problems.
Overview and self-control
It's easy to get lost among all the choices and be swept away by the expectations of those around you. You may experience ambivalence and dilemmas that sabotage both joy and satisfaction, but also reduce the ability to take advantage of the opportunities you have. Modern life easily becomes "too much of everything" for us humans to function optimally. For some people, it's about developing new skills. For example, setting boundaries, prioritizing, making decisions, and accepting the consequences.
One needs to be authentic to the values one truly believes are important. If one lives a life to an excessive degree focused on meeting the expectations of one's surroundings, one will be plagued by dissatisfaction. However, circumstances can be more or less compelling. No human being is an island unto themselves; we are generally dependent on others in various ways. Social circumstances, mental and physical disabilities are common limitations to contend with.
How does it work?
How psychotherapy works can vary, partly because the issues addressed are different. A person undergoing therapy for personal development may not have much in common with a person with a serious mental illness receiving psychological treatment. However, what they do have in common is that they are helped to gain better insight and self-control.
When it comes to mental health issues, the approach in psychotherapy varies depending on the nature of the problems. These problems can be diffuse or clearly defined, they can be related to a current life situation or not. The person may know what the problem is, or it may be precisely what they don't know. How one can work with a problem also depends on the person's own capacity and their own wishes.
Overview and self-control are very general goals. And there are psychological treatment methods that come into play, depending on the problem or symptom being addressed. Sometimes the choice of method is clear (for example, we know how to effectively work with specific phobias), while other issues, such as finding an approach to a life situation, are more about insight, reflection, and longer-term strategies. In these cases, the methodology in the conversation is not predetermined but depends on how you, as the client, approach it. The treatment then becomes more about supporting and streamlining what you are already in the process of doing.