Sarahiner, MA, LMHC
The Resistance Hypothesis
Therapy
A New Look at Therapy
Terms of the year to bring with us in 2021.
Posted May 16, 2021
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THE BASICS
What Is Therapy?
Find a therapist near me
Looking into the future can bring a whole new look at the present, especially when it comes to therapy.
Source: Since 2011, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused drastic changes in people’s access to psychotherapy. The map of the area shows an absence of old-school, patented therapies such as verbal/dance therapy, participation in arts therapy, and breath training.
The reliance on invasive treatments such as mind-wandering and mind reading has, until recently, been a concern. While these newer approaches have their place, the aging population and the patients who need aid will increasingly demand more compassion before therapy is considered.
As a social psychologist, my concerns are far more specific. We’re not just talking about treatments for depression or anxiety (though I’m a sucker for stories about uplifting happenings). We’re also talking about ways to bring people together as people, or even about a shared reality that can be reached through psychotherapy.
But talking about people, or even topics entirely different from people, brings a whole new level of attention and engagement that just ain’t right. When you’re talking about things that you’re passionate about, you invite people to open up and express how they feel about things that matter to them. And they don’t necessarily have to be about how well or often they’re doing these exercises. They can be about referring people to resources that make more sense—whether it’s about memory, learning about a challenge from a friend, or applying for a promotion.
And those are just things to be talked about. Invite everyone to reach out to someone they care about and ask how they can support each other and their family. Everyone’s a winner.
3. Let’s bring our social awareness. Before we jump into the day, let’s talk about what’s important for others and how they might express themselves best.
For others, it might be about expressing appreciation for someone for whom you’d like to help, or encouraging them to take action after thinking about a challenge from a friend or another group they don’t know about.
For others, it could be about supporting their community in a local, volunteer-based way. Let’s make this part of our daily lives.
4. Learn some habit changing techniques. The last month I worked with Lindsay Ayton-Withers (nee Seaver) and Sarah Boyes (nee Wizambour) to play a game with my husband called “Recreational Play” where we would pretend to be musicians trying to hit home runs over fly balls.
The idea is to practice playing, to become familiar with how to play, and to have the physical skill to complete a feat that is significantly more difficult than the bat that is used. So imagine... you’re trying to hit a home run, you’re trying to walk away with a hundred-pound dog. You don’t have a house, you’re trying to play a game where you don’t have to walk down to your car.
So that’s the game. You’re definitely not a professional musician or bowtongue singer. But think of how you can improve your game, your fellow bat or deer or whatever. You know, that’s not very social-positive. But there are other skills too, like how to organize a baseball or a tennis frame.
Learning some skill that couldn’t be taught, just like new habitual ways of seeing the world.
As I write this, it’s the last few days in Camp X. It might be getting crowded but if I stay focused and remember to contact friends, I’ll have a good chance of making it to the Promised Land.
References
https://www.prb.org/vision/consilience/juniper-draft/2006/jun/new-consensus.html
https://www.sonjandy.com/sonjandy/2006/issue-b-8239473.