Understanding Talking Therapies 

People often feel that going to talk to a therapist is reserved for those who are crazy, or very unwell, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Ask yourself Darling would it not be nice to have a chat with an unbiased individual every couple of weeks to let off steam? Is this not what you do every week with your girlfriends and is this not just a very natural human behaviour?
 

If you present at your Doctors with a mental health problem by default you should be given the option of talking therapy. Sadly, many are not. You can find out more about what to expect for ANY health problem here at the National Institute for Clinical Health Care Excellence. The reason this is important and why you should be making an effort to inform the kick-ass women around you is to stop the ongoing handouts of prescriptions without the option of talking therapy.  

So where does talking therapy come from?

A wise old Greek philosopher know as Epictetus once upon a time said; 

“It’s not the things in themselves which trouble us, but the opinions we have about these things” 

And from this much of what we know to be talking therapy was born, talking therapy in a basic sense is, therefore, the process of enabling ourselves to see that an activating event creates a thought, which in turn creates a feeling, which can lead to a specific behaviour or physical symptom. 

For example: 

• Activating Event: Your Ex appears.  
• Thought: He made me feel like anxious potato (amongst other abusive thoughts).
• Feeling: Raw fear of feeling/sadness/anger/all of the above. 
• Behaviour: Run, hide! Pretend to be a table, avoid at all costs. 

There are many different talking therapies and it is important to find what is right for you Darling. It is important to note counselling is an altogether different species of therapy and usually involves enabling somebody to debrief following substantial trauma e.g. bereavement counselling. This can almost be thought of as being a precursor to the type of talking therapies laid out above.
 

Alongside there being many different types of talking therapy don’t forget just as you and I are fabulously different women, as are therapists and counsellors. With this in mind, it is ok to not click with the first person you see and it is also ok under NHS care to request a different person. 

Remember Darling you can’t look after anyone else if you don’t look after yourself first. To find out more about the different types of talking therapy look here. 

Peace and Love. 

Rebekah Few 
NotLostbutFree.com