Psychotherapy to Change Self-Concept

This article is Part 2 of a series of articles I have written on Psychotherapy as it is described in the book A Course In Miracles and upon which my wife and I base the therapy we provide at our own Private Hypno-Psychotherapy Practice here in the Isle of Man. Setanta Hypnotherapy & Psychotherapy Clinic

Click the following link to read Part 1

The process called psychotherapy serves to create optimal conditions for both therapist and client to change their perception of self.

Clients normally do not enter psychotherapy with the goal of changing their perception of self. On the contrary most people who enter psychotherapy are completely unaware that it is their faulty self-concept that is at the root of their suffering.They initially seek to preserve their perception of self exactly as it is but without the suffering that goes with it.

The clients usually come to psychotherapy to alleviate suffering they experience but do not wish to change their minds about how they perceive the world or themselves.Most come with an idea that they can in some way control the suffering to the degree that it is tolerable so that they can continue as before.They just cannot see that by defending their perceptions they are clinging to their suffering.

Most clients who enter therapy of any kind are looking for some kind of magical cure to be administered by the therapist who is seen as possessing special powers to accomplish this.By relinquishing responsibility for their condition clients then give the responsibility for their ‘repair’ to the therapist.

This is the situation for most people when they become ill and in handing over their power to another they are then at the mercy of the perceptions of this other person.

Many General Practitioners nowadays realise the power of suggestion when people come to them in this vulnerable state of entrusting their power to the doctor.What the doctor says is accepted literally and completely in many cases as the suggestions given by the doctor are absorbed by the patient’s subconscious without question.

Some psychotherapists fall prey to the temptation to become this special person with magical powers to cure the patient and you will hear these people making such claims publicly in order to attract people.These people do not have the interests of the client at heart and do a disservice to themselves and their fellow man. All that is accomplished by such people is service to the ego that caused the suffering in the first place.

When therapist and client enter the psychotherapeutic relationship they both have conflicting goals.The therapist seeks to change the client’s self concept and the client seeks to defend the very self concept that is creating the very suffering they experience.

This is not to say that the therapist’s self concept is correct either!Change occurs when both begin to move toward each other and find some common ground for agreement.The extent to which this movement occurs determines the degree of the healing achieved.In agreement, client and therapist alike give up their unrealistic goals and those ideas that they both once clung to. The client and therapist are still left with their illusions but change has occurred at the level of mind and that in itself makes way for reality which lies beyond perception.This process of change is what we are all involved in.Pain and suffering are indications of our unwillingness to change when something inside us tells us it is time to.