In every transformative therapy, there is a period when the patient may feel more lost than ever. They are relinquishing old ways of being and have not yet consolidated new ways
We are changing life patterns. There is no path from point A to point B that does not traverse the unknown
Real transformation occurs when patient and therapist can enter and embrace that unknown
But this is also the point when less experienced therapists get anxious and want to rush in with solutionsβinstead of accompanying the patient into the unknown and continuing the shared work of exploration
This is the point where therapists, in an effort to manage their own anxiety, can derail the successful work of the therapy that has led them to this point
If the duration of therapy is artificially fixed in advance or set by a third party (clinic, agency, health insurer, etc), therapy can never reach this point. Therapist and patient know itβs not safe to venture there and instinctively pull back from the unknown